THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE WATER

(Besides the salt.)

Newcomers to the area are often sold on the idea of our “pristine coastal waters.” If only they knew the reality!
Those of us who have fished here for a lifetime are only too well aware of an insidious yet significant decline in our marine and aquatic biodiversity and associated ecosystems. And it’s not from overfishing!

To date, the previous government’s only response over sixteen years, was to impose a series of marine parks upon reluctant coastal communities, at selected sites along the coast. Interestingly, not one marine park was sited in a Labor held electorate. Isn’t the biodiversity there worth protecting? And the greatest fishing pressure in the state occurs around Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. Yet there are no marine parks there!

The previous government trumpeted their marine parks would ensure the future of recreational fishing. (see Minister Verity Firth’s response to an ECOfishers letter in the Northern Star 20.10.2007.)
Well it hasn’t and their marine parks aren’t protecting anything. They just ban fishing.

Existing marine parks are notorious for their failure to even address the continuing decline and deterioration of marine and aquatic habitats throughout the state. And habitat decline is not from overfishing. 

During the last twenty years ECOfishers have observed the gradual decline in our mollusc univalve and bivalve populations from the rock platforms. The green, red and purple rock crab populations, cunjevoi, wild oyster stocks, barnacles, bearded mussels, periwinkles, turban top shells, limpets etc, are disappearing. Our pipi stocks along the beaches are also in decline. And it’s not from overfishing!

All these organisms are either filter feeders or algal browsers. And they are disappearing at an alarming rate, even in areas locked-up from fishing for five years or more, in so called sanctuary zones. Local temperate and subtropical species of coral are dying and it’s not from overfishing.

While it may be socially appealing to the extreme green anti-fishing minority to lock-up areas and lock fishing families out and engage in dodgy stunts, it clearly isn’t working. And it’s not from overfishing.

Locally, there are fewer assemblages and organisms, in some so called sanctuary zones, than there were five years ago. The difference is stark. Even in areas from which commercial fishing has been excluded (Recreational Fishing Havens) since 2002, there is a decline and it’s not from overfishing.

ECOfishers are now observing what appear to be, genetic variations and abnormalities in commonly harvested fish species such as Yellowfin Bream and Tarwhine. And that’s not from overfishing! There must be something in the water!

Why do our creeks, rivers and estuaries frequently look and smell muddy? Well, we have huge horticultural holdings on the northern rivers. We mass produce avocados, bananas, macadamias, sugar cane, blueberries, stone fruits and a wealth of other foods etc. And most are treated regularly with a wide variety of chemical pesticides,herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Tonnes of chemicals go onto our food crops every year. And where does the residue end up?

We already have a variety of agri-chemicals causing endocrine disruption and immuno-suppression to our aquatic and marine biodiversity. These chemicals don’t colour the water. And it’s not from overfishing!

We endure massive topsoil and sediment export (containing the chemical contamination) every time there is a fresh or a flood or even a good local “gully-raker” storm. Now that does colour the water. Sediment smothers the vital seagrass beds, reduces light to photosynthesizing algae, marine and aquatic plants. Even the plankton is affected.  And it’s not from overfishing.

Then we incur increased nutrient and chemical fertilizer loads from agriculture and Sewage Treatment Plants (STP’s). All our sewerage is pumped or drains, into a creek, river, estuary or near shore area. But you can’t see it, except when it overflows or the plant breaks down. Most treatment plants malfunction at least weekly. That contamination has nothing to do with overfishing.

None of these attributes to our marine and aquatic environments are monitored or measured. They only become an issue when double headed embryonic Australian Bass appear. It has nothing to do with overfishing.
Do we have to wait until our women folk deliver two headed babies before we act?

And then we have a myriad of mismanaged channels across the floodplain, networking to the polluted flood gated drains, which prevent tidal flushing and necessary access to the floodplain wetland areas by fish and crustacean populations. And that has nothing to do with overfishing either.

There is also a most serious lack of riparian vegetation, which acts as a buffer and filter zone throughout the catchment. No filtering buffer helps keep the water dirty. It has nothing to do with overfishing.
  
So where does that leave us? It leaves us with over 80% of our coastal fish habitats lost to drainage,  floodgates, acid sulphate soils and development; 90% of our riparian zones are degraded. More than 50% of our seagrass beds have been lost. Water quality is alarmingly poor. (ECOfishers have been scientifically monitoring water quality in flood mitigation drains for years. That data is highly disturbing.) There are more than 10,000 man made barriers to fish and crustacean passage across the state. 97% of our river lengths have been modified in some way. And it’s not from overfishing!

Less healthy habitat and inaccessible habitats, means fewer and fewer fish and crustaceans. It has nothing to do with overfishing. There must be something in the water!

The real threats to our marine biodiversity and associated ecosystems have been identified by expert marine scientists as 1) pollution in all its forms; 2) some agricultural practices and chemicals; 3) inappropriate coastal development; and 4) introduced pest species and diseases. It has nothing to do with overfishing!

Ken Thurlow
CEO ECOfishers NSW.

Healthy habitats = Healthy fisheries!