Proposed marine parks

[Prof]

All,

Yet another unannounced surprise has been dumped on commercial and recreational fishing in the State's marine parks. Below are links to proposed changes to the regulations, the regulatory impact statement (They actually did one this time!) and a question and answer document.

As you will discover, the draft regulations are virtually unreadable for lay people.

The regulatory impact statement compares the effect of past and proposed regulations with a non existant unregulated situation making it virtually impossible to spot the differences and to filter out changes that may have an impact on fishing and the community.

The Q and A document is just intelligible but can you rely on the people that wrote it?

Closing date for submissions is the 12th of June!!

These proposed changes may well be benign but given the mistrust fishers feel for the Marine Park Authority and the State government you'd think these people would do a better job than this.

How come all the major fishing club and lobby groups know nothing of the proposed changes until a day ago? Was ACoRF kept in the dark too or did this so called peak recreational fishing advisory group (appointed by the Minister) deliberately keep fishers in the dark?

I've had a gutful of this rot and the mob that is responsible for it. How about you?

Rod Burston



http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/regulation/
Notice of Public Exhibition
Proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009
The object of the proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009 is to:

remake those provisions of the Marine Parks Regulation 1999 that remain relevant to the management of marine parks, together with new provisions, as the Marine Parks Regulation 2009
directly amend the Marine Parks Regulation 1999 so that it contains only provisions relating to zoning plans for marine parks and rename it the Marine Parks (Zoning Plans) Regulation 1999.
The amendments that will establish the Marine Parks (Zoning Plans) Regulation 1999 are contained in Schedule 2 of the proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009.

Marine park zoning plans are now subject to statutory review and amendment processes under the Marine Parks Act 1997. Consequently, no changes to the substance of any zoning plan will be made by the proposed Regulation. Zoning plan reviews for Jervis Bay and Solitary Islands marine parks commenced in 2008 and remain in progress. If changes to zoning plans are required as an outcome of the current reviews, these will be the subject of separate three month public exhibition periods as required by the Marine Parks Act 1997.

Further information on the proposed Regulation and proposed changes is contained in the Regulatory Impact Statement and the Questions and Answers document.

Proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009 470 kb

Proposed%20Marine%20Parks%20Regulation%202009%20-%20Public%20consultation%20draft.pdf

Regulatory Impact Statement 630 kb

Regulatory%20Impact%20Statement%20-%20Proposed%20Marine%20Parks%20Regulation%202009.pdf

Questions and Answers 35 kb

Q%20&%20As%20-%20Proposed%20Marine%20Parks%20Regulation%202009.pdf

Submission Guidelines
The Marine Parks Authority invites written comments and submissions from interested parties on the proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009. All written comments and submissions will be considered in finalising the proposed Regulation.

Written comments and submissions on the proposed Regulation will be accepted up to 5 pm on Friday 12 June 2009 and should be sent via email, post or fax. Please include your contact details in all correspondence.

regulation@mpa.nsw.gov.au
Proposed Marine Parks Regulation 2009
Secretariat, Marine Parks Authority
PO Box 1967
Hurstville NSW 1481


Fax: (02) 9585 6544
For the purposes of the NSW Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998, any comments, including personal details, will be a matter of public record and available for public inspection on request to the NSW Marine Parks Authority. Should you wish your comments to remain confidential, it is important to indicate this in a clear and visible place within your submission.

For further information, please contact the Marine Parks Authority by telephone at 1300 361 967, by email to regulation@mpa.nsw.gov.au, or by fax to (02) 9585 6544.

[Prof]

Hello All,

Iain Mackay of Warringah Anglers has done a marvellous job of getting this marine park protest petition together. He has 7,500 responses so far and in on track to break the record for any petition presented to the NSW Parliament.

The State government is very sensitive to criticism at the moment, especially from anglers. There has been a distinct slowdown in the erosion of our rights. Rezoning of Jervis Bay and Solitary Islands Marine Parks is on hold with promises that the status quo will remain.

If you haven't already done so, download and print a copy of the petition available at the link below, collect a few signatures from family, friends and workmates and send it off to the address shown on the form.

If you have already sent in a form or two, don't give up now. We are on the brink of making a real difference.

Regards
Rod Burston

http://www.warringahanglers.org.au/

[Prof]

Ms Carmel Tebbutt,
Level 30,
Governor Macquarie Tower,
1 Farrer Place,
SYDNEY NSW 2000
15/05/2009
Dear Ms Tebbutt,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding issues raised by a report produced by the non-government organisation the National Parks Association, which is currently being reviewed by government with a view to implement some or possibly all of its findings in the form of a series of Marine Parks incorporating “no take” zones in the Camden Haven area of the mid-north coast of NSW.
I, like all recreational fishers, have a great regard for the aquatic environment in this region and uppermost in my mind is the need to manage our fisheries resources sustainably so as to ensure the future generations have the same opportunities to enjoy this relaxing pastime and benefit from the end result in the form of some fresh fish to take home for the family. However the proposed closures within marine parks seem to me to be a blunt management instrument with a wide range of guaranteed negative outcomes and quite dubious science supporting them. As a graduate holding a Bachelor of Applied Science in Resource Management I have a sound background in the techniques used to assess marine ecosystems and feel that little or no hard data is given in the NPA document (The Torn Blue Fringe) to support any of its conclusions. Also the jury is out regarding the effectiveness on fish resources of other closures already enacted in NSW. Not uncertain however is the significant losses in tourism and other related businesses (tackle, bait, boating etc) in those regions.
Given the proven negative outcomes of other NSW closures, especially economically, in these hard economic times it seems foolhardy at best to proceed with these proposed closures until further data is gathered about the current catch rates and the potential for a range of other, less antagonistic management practices to be implemented. This could be done without alienating fishing groups like Ecofishers which have been and will continue to be essential to gather and freely provide vital information about catch rates, tagging recaptures and the like to your department.
It has been mentioned in both the NPA document and by your office in defence of previous closures that only a small area of any marine park would be designated as a “no take” zone and therefore the impacts on recreational fishers would be minimal however this is quite misleading. In any national park, be it marine or terrestrial there are areas of greater population density than others, locking these areas out has a far greater impact than a restriction of activities over the whole area and is a lot more difficult to police.
This raises another interesting point regarding the cost effectiveness of closures versus other management strategies. What is the cost of establishing, signing, providing educational and interpretive material and effectively policing “no take” zones in large, sparsely populated areas? The resources required to enforce closures kilometres offshore in relatively sparsely populated areas like the Camden Haven would be large, especially if trying to manage antagonised and actively disobedient groups of fishers alienated by poorly researched and unconsulted blanket closures. If the enforcement is ineffective so is this management strategy whereas using strategies that are favoured by groups like Ecofishers ensures compliance is far better and less enforcement is required.
I would prefer my recreational fishing licence funds to be spent on researching more effective management strategies like bag, size and hook number limits as well as seasonal closures. All of these measures would be actively supported (as they have in the past) by groups like Ecofishers and would require far less draconian enforcement to be effective.

In closing I’d like to reinforce the potential positives that could arise from a process like this. I was a little startled to attend meetings of Ecofishers where I was expecting 200 - 300 people and be confronted by well over 1000 in one small coastal village alone. This means a great focussed target audience in what is normally a fairly disparate group of people. The potential exists to create a co-operative management structure here at the Camden Haven where fisheries Scientists, the DPI and recreational fishers can all work together to create and implement researched, effective management plans which could then be applied to other areas and integrated far more effectively than the current, draconian marine park/closure strategy. All the policy of closure has done is to create a division between the regulators and the fisherfolk which immediately makes any policy far harder to enforce and far more often breached, not an outcome anyone wants. I therefore implore you to seriously consider a change in strategy moving forward and assure you that I, Ecofishers management and all its members would be fully supportive and highly appreciative of the opportunity to jointly manage our precious resource for the future.

Yours Sincerely,
Mark Winser,
Ecofisher

[squidgie]

From: Rod Burston
Date: 28/05/2009 1:25:40 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:,
Subject: Marine park petition reminder


Hello All,

Iain Mackay of Warringah Anglers has done a marvellous job of getting this marine park protest petition together. He has 7,500 responses so far and in on track to break the record for any petition presented to the NSW Parliament.

The State government is very sensitive to criticism at the moment, especially from anglers. There has been a distinct slowdown in the erosion of our rights. Rezoning of Jervis Bay and Solitary Islands Marine Parks is on hold with promises that the status quo will remain.

If you haven't already done so, download and print a copy of the petition available at the link below, collect a few signatures from family, friends and workmates and send it off to the address shown on the form.

If you have already sent in a form or two, don't give up now. We are on the brink of making a real difference.

Regards
Rod Burston

http://www.warringahanglers.org.au/