The Minster for Planning approved a massive dredging operation in the South Arm of the Hunter River – adjacent to the old BHP site – Now, BHP want the dredging to happen to make way for the third coal terminal.

The project has altered substantially since first approved, and the Minister is considering significant modifications without further public consultation.

University of Canberra Fisheries management emeritus professor Bob Kearney's recent nit-picking of a document prepared by the NSW Marine Parks Authority has led to the information being removed from their website. You can still download this important paper titled "Review of benefits of marine protected areas and related zoning considerations" below.

Anecdotal reports published in the Daily Telegraph suggest Grey Nurse Shark numbers have been underestimated.

I think anyone who cares about such things would be pleased to hear that there are indeed 6000 grey nurse sharks in our waters. But I’m not breaking open the bubbly in response to unreported assertions by recreational fishers and unnamed “insiders”.

ORANGE roughy has become the first commercially-caught fish to be added to Australia's list of threatened species.

Known as deep sea perch, giant spawning aggregations of the slow-growing, long-lived fish have been taken by trawl nets in southern Australian waters.

Protection under the law was needed if the species was to have any chance of long-term survival, the federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, said yesterday.

The most comprehensive look yet at the human impact of declining marine biodiversity suggests commercial fish and seafood species may collapse by 2048. It’s a gloomy picture, but hope lies in the establishment of marine sanctuaries to restore biodiversity and avoid fisheries decline.

A Draft Zoning Plan for the Batemans Marine Park has just been exhibited for public comment which closed on the 18 October.

The National Parks Association Marine Sanctuaries Campaign is being hosted by the HCEC. A copy of the NPA Submission to the Batemans Marine Park Draft Zoning Plan and Regulations that inlcudes a map of the NPA Zoning Plan can be downloaded by clicking the attachment at the bottom of this page (2MB).

Ocean data confirms fishing puts targetted species in "double jeopardy"

18 October 2006

La Jolla, California,

The University of California at San Diego issued the following press release:

For the first time, a research study (attached) has shown that fishing can promote boom and bust swings in supplies of targeted fish stocks. The study, authored by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (National Marine Fisheries Service), Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, shows that beyond the potential for fishery exploitation to cause systematic declines in targeted fish stocks, fishing carries with it a "double jeopardy" impact by also amplifying the highs and lows of natural population variability.

The contention that Marine Parks and no-take marine sanctuaries have no scientific basis is ignorance, denial, and humbug.

In 2003, Dr Ben Halpern from University of California Santa Barbara presented an analysis of the results of studies into 89 separate no-take marine reserves around the world. He found that on average, creating a no-take marine sanctuary doubles the density of fish and invertebrates, triples the biomass and increases the mean size of fish by 20-30% relative to fished areas (Halpern, 2003). These results indicate the re-establishment of natural processes after serious disturbance.

Significant benefits stem from the creation of marine sanctuaries. These include reducing the variation in the average catch of target species of commercial and recreational fishers and charter operators. Tourist operators generally benefit from the long-term protection of important marine habitats. Indeed, international experience shows that sanctuaries within marine parks generate significant economic benefits to the regions where they are created, due to substantial increases in tourist numbers. These tourists generally stay longer and so spend more than the current day or weekend visitors who frequent the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Region.

The Hunter Community Environment Centre compiled a review of NSW Fisheries catch data from 1940 to 2000 entitled “Empty Oceans Empty Nets” in February 2006, presenting the best available time-series data on the state of NSW fisheries. The Report was compiled due to the dearth of information on the health of our marine environment, and in particular the sustainability of current fishing pressure in NSW. It did not claim, and never intended, to be a scientific report. It has created a storm of reaction from fisheries scientists (Forrest and Pitcher from the University of British Columbia) and the Primary Industries Minister, Ian MacDonald, has now written to peak environment groups in NSW telling them not to use Empty Oceans Empty Nets.  We find this kind of behaviour baffling in the extreme, especially since the two "fisheries scientists" who have challenged HCEC's methodology in the report did not even address the fundamental issue: that the NSW fishery is in serious decline due to overfishing.