A proposal by a fringe environmental group to introduce 20 new marine
parks off the coast of Victoria is yet another major threat to
Australia's recreational and commercial fishing industries.
Federal Coalition spokesperson for fisheries Senator Richard Colbeck
said the Victorian National Parks Association's new marine parks
proposal has all the hallmarks of recent opportunism by fringe
environmental groups around Australia.
"With the Labor Party desperate for Green preferences, fringe
environmental groups have been given great confidence their extreme
marine proposals will be gratefully received by State and Federal Labor
Governments," Senator Colbeck said.
"At a Federal level these fringe groups are also assisted by a former
brother-in-arms, the now Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.
"There has become a marine lock-up mentality across Labor Governments
fed by fringe environmental groups.
"The Federal Government decisions to ban mako shark fishing along with
unilaterally declaring the entire Coral Sea as a conservation zone
following a proposal from environmental fringe group the Pew Foundation
are both symptomatic of this mentality.
"What these groups fail to realise or refuse to acknowledge is the
massive impact their marine proposals have upon coastal communities,
small businesses within these communities and on upon both the
recreational and commercial fishing sectors.
"Recreational fishing is a massive contributor to healthy lifestyles and
to regional economies. It is estimated 3.5 million Australians
participate in recreational fishing every year.
"At the same time, our commercial fishing sector which operates under
world-leading regulatory regimes is critical to fishing communities, to
local employment and to contributing to a healthy national diet.
"Any suggestion that either the recreational or commercial fishing
sectors are raping and pillaging our marine environment is either
ignorant or deliberately misleading," Senator Colbeck said.
Details of the VNPA's new marine parks proposals at:
http://vnpa.org.au/admin/library/attachments/Marine/marine-priority-areas.pdf
SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry
