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2012/12: Is Australia's proposed network of marine parks desirable?





Introduction to the media issue

Video clip at right:
A June, 2012, ABC News segment, showing the reaction to Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke's announcement of an expansion of protected zones in Australian waters. If you cannot see this clip, it will be because video is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows viewing of video clips.

What they said...
'Closing areas to fish extraction is a compelling tool to restore depleted fish stocks'
Professor Carlos Duarte, the Director of the University of Western Australia's Oceans Institute

'What's offensive is that fishing has not been proven to be an irreversible threat to the marine environment anywhere in Australia'
Dean Logan, the chief executive officer of the Australian Marine Alliance

The issue at a glance
On June 14, 2012, the federal government announced that Australia would create the world's largest network of marine parks.
The network is to be comprised of five main zones in offshore waters surrounding every state and territory. The marine reserves will cover 3.1 million sq km of ocean. The Government proposes to pay up to $100 million in compensation to commercial fishers who will be locked out of some of the new marine parks.
The proposed network places limits on oil and gas exploration off Western Australia and extends reef protection in the Coral Sea. The network of marine reserves will also include the Great Barrier Reef, a Unesco World Heritage site. The plan will see the numbers of marine reserves off the Australian coast increased from 27 to 60.
Australia has timed its announcement to coincide with the run-up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit - a global gathering of leaders from more than 130 nations to discuss protecting key parts of the environment, including the ocean.
Though some have welcomed the plan as a vital advance in the protection of marine environment, it has been criticised by commercial and recreational fishers, who say it goes too far, and by the Greens, who say it does not go far enough. Environmental groups, while broadly supportive of the overall goal of sheltering delicate marine ecosystems from exploitation, also complained that it did not do sufficient to safeguard areas rich in oil and natural gas reserves or under pressure from industrial fishing.