As we sit back and contemplate the new recreational fishing rules with their new bag limits and closed seasons, there is a new threat appearing. Many of you would not be aware that back in 2006 all Governments of Australia agreed to set up a series of regional networks of Commonwealth marine reserves. These are to be completed by 2012 and are part of an international agreement.

 

Western Australia is subject to two of these reserves: one from Shark Bay to Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and the other from Shark Bay to the Northern Territory border. The Department of Environment Water and Arts (DEWHA) have carriage of the marine planning process, which has three main planning stages.

 

1.      Release of Marine Bioregional Profile

2.      Draft Marine Bioregional Plan

3.      Finalisation of the Marine Bioregional Plan

 

At the time of writing the Marine Bioregional Profile had been released for the South West region, and there have been areas set aside for further assessment. These areas are likely to contain marine protected areas within them. They start 3 nautical miles off the coast and head out to 200 nautical miles. As I see it, this is a massive land or water grab by the Government; a look at the proposed areas suggests not much is being left for anyone. It seems that the decision makers on Marine reserve areas always take the good bits and leave the rest for us. You will hear that we will have only a small percentage of marine parks in Western Australia, but they fail to mention that a big slab of W.A. is effectively already a Marine Park simply because it is very difficult to get to.

 

Look at the areas talked about on the South Coast: starting at Kangaroo Island they run to west of Ceduna. Then there is a small gap and it starts again around Eucla. Then we have the Great Australian Bight that only a handfull of people ever get to go visit. It seems the area around Israelite Bay is next, then a small gap to Esperance, and then all the way to Bremer Bay. Then comes the big one: from just South of Albany all the way around the Capes to Bunbury. Rightly, they call this the South- West Corner. Then there is a gap up to around Mandurah, followed by the Perth Canyon which takes in everything including Rottnest. Next is the Jurien Bay area with a small gap to Dongara, then all the way to Kalbarri taking in the Abrolhos Islands. Great isn't it? Still, you have the Zuytdorp Cliffs.

 

Recently DEWHA has released information on areas for further assessment for the North West Region, and it does not get any better. The first starts at the top of Dirk Hartog Island and stretches out to just west of Karratha, starts again due north of there, and basically that's it to the NT border, although It does leave a little bit for movement between Karratha and Port Hedland. We would not want to upset the mining industry, would we now? I must state this is all work in progress and nothing has been finalized, but it does look scary. Of these areas DEWHA has not stated what percentage would be sanctuary or no-take zones. They apparently have no particular amount they have to include.

Don't get me wrong. I believe we do need Sanctuary Zones; they can benefit all of us. I regularly fish at the southern end of the Eastern Gulf of Shark Bay, only a few kilometres from the Hamelin Pool Sanctuary Zone, and the fishing is excellent.

 

Closed areas can give fish stocks a chance to breed and grow to full maturity, and the over flow from there will help depleted grounds replenish. I also believe that small pieces of ground are relatively useless as they are not big enough for proper stock recruitment. On the other hand what we are looking at here is 1.3 million square kilometres – 54 percent of the South West Bioregion. The bits left over are mostly very hard to get to, so it may as well be 90 percent. If you go to Save Our Marine Life Alliance's web site you will see what they are pushing for. What they are saying is that less than 1% of our South coast is protected, and this is technically correct except for the other issues of accessibility.

 

Their reasons for each of their proposed zones provided an interesting read; here are some examples. The Abrolhos area is Western Australia's most significant Marine Wildlife area. It is an important breeding ground for western rock lobster and is also the southern-most major coral reef. Humpback whales spend a lot of time resting in this area and it is the location of 20 of Australia's 132 dive wrecks. All this is correct. It is also the major part of the rock lobster industry, and many towns here rely on the income that this area generates. The Government would have to think and look very hard before doing anything here as the commercial impacts could be devastating. Although setting parts aside for no-take zones would once again benefit all of us.

 

The Jurien area, I thought, already had sanctuary zones in place to protect its unique marine population such as the endangered green turtle and Australian sea lion. It is a highly productive marine environment that I think is being very well protected by Fisheries WA rules and regulations. With the decrease in recreational bag limits and the daily quotas to the commercial wet line fishing fleet the stocks there, in my opinion, have a great chance of recovery. Although there are areas around there that are known breeding grounds for dhufish and those should be locked up for everyone's benefit.

 

 The Perth Canyon, which I was surprised to learn is Australia's largest and  bigger than the Grand Canyon, is a critical feeding site for the blue whale; one of only two in Australia. It is the southern range of tropical species moving south, and the home for southern blue fin tuna.

 

The largest area on the chart is the south west corner which apparently has our deepest marine plateau with cliffs up to 1000 metres high. This would have some unique species living down there. Geographe Bay to the Cape and south is an important breeding ground for the endangered logger head turtle and has high concentration of marine life in it including the WA dhufish. The Naturaliste Reef is a biodiversity hot spot, and important to the endangered southern right whale.

 

Around the corner towards Albany are the highest mountain range and the deepest waters in Australia, reaching down 7.5 kilometres. So once again this area holds some unique species, and is apparently pristine and barely explored. These are the areas I believe should be monitored, as this would cause little inconvenience to anyone's activities and would help preserve a special environment.

 

Recherche Archipelago, east and west is a hot spot for marine life including sponges, ancient corals, molluscs and micro algae. It is important to sea lions, the southern fur seal and provides the calving ground for the southern right whale. It holds much important bird life and is the most extensive reef in the South-West Marine Region. As for the Great Australian Bight and the Eyre region, once again it is the home of sea lions, the southern right whale and bird life.

 

We would all agree Western Australia is a special place, deserving protection and not to be over-exploited. The government of the day has to protect it, but the challenge is to do so without destroying people's livelihoods and taking away the public's right to enjoy fishing for pleasure. There is already too much government protection of areas based on locking them up and throwing away the key. I have seen so many places that this has happened on land and I would hate to see it happen in the sea.

 

This process is going to be released in early 2010. It will be open for public comment, but only for 60 days. Not much time in my opinion considering the complexities of the subject. Many of us are very blase when it comes to these things but be warned: if you are, you may not be doing too much fishing at all. You will find that we might only be able to fish within 3 nautical miles off the shore, leaving King George whiting as our top table fish. Apart from that Western Australia's top table fish will not even be able to be bought.