An environmentally unfriendly battle
was fought in the Coral Sea in 1942 and, although there was, technically, a
winner and a loser in that encounter, it really wasn’t a victory for
anyone. A similarly hostile encounter,
albeit without the blood and gore, again threatens to involve this very large
body of sea water, with a very large defeat for the Australian economy being the only clear result.
Figure 1 - Courtesy of http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/mobile/img/news/2012/Coral_Sea_map.png
The combatants in this engagement are
the Australian Federal Government, the Fishing and Charter Fishing industries, various
environmental groups and at least some of the Australian population. This battle has been commenced by the
Australian Federal Government, represented by the Australian Labour Party, in
coalition with the Federal Greens Party, apparently spear-headed by the
Environment Minister, Tony Burke, and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. They launched this battle with the
declaration of many large areas of the sea, within the Australian Economic
Exclusion Zone, as Marine Parks where mining and commercial fishing are the
primary activities that are to be banned.
The Coral Sea Marine Park is just one
such area of water that is involved and, while this Park is the topic of this
blog, it is well to remember that the declaration by the Australian Federal
Government involves huge swathes of sea right around the country, as shown in
the following depiction.
Figure 2 - Courtesy of http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/reserves/sw-region.html
Continue to bear in mind that all the
highlighted areas, right around the country, are to be completely devoid of commercial
fishing activity – oh yes, and mining activity as well.
Where and how will Australians be able
to source seafood after commercial fishing is banned in all these areas? Do we have our own fleet of deep-sea super
trawlers to take over the jobs of the many commercial and charter fishermen who
currently earn their living in these waters?
How can we be sure that the ban on fishing will be enforced?
Before attempting to address these
questions, I’d like to highlight the vast area of the Coral Sea, indicated in
the above diagram, that will be involved in the declaration, as it is the
largest single area, by far. A couple of
maps, following, illustrate the point and can be compared to the map of the
Coral Sea, at Figure 2.
Figure 3 - Courtesy of http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/reserves/images/map-coralsea-region.jpg
This figure shows the various zones
within the Coral Sea Marine Park, diagrammatically, and indicates that the “general
use” and “multiple use” zones, in which is it presumed that commercial fishing
may be permitted, are much smaller areas in which fishermen can compete for a
very limited “catch of the day”. The
next depiction of the same area shows the full extent of the Marine Park and,
when compared with Figure 3, it confirms the extra distance that fishermen will
have to travel before they can earn their living.
Figure 4 - Courtesy of http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/maps/images/coral-sea-map.jpg
Figures 3 and 4 both show the Coral
Sea Marine Park abutting to eastern side of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
(GBRMP). Commercial and charter fishing
vessels have been accustomed to travelling through the GBRMP to reach their
fishing grounds and this has been fair enough.
After all, the really large, mature fish, do not inhabit the Reef waters
– they are only found in deep water beyond the GBRMP.
The fishing vessels in use are not
large super trawlers, such as the 142m foreign-owned “Margiris”, which has received Federal Government blessing to
plunder Australian waters.
Figure 5 - Courtesy of http://photos.marinetraffic.com/ais/showphoto.aspx?photoid=792124&size=full
No, the boats that are used in
Australian waters will look more like those shown in the following 2 figures.
Figure 6 - Courtesy of http://www.saltersboats.com.au/Files/30280/Photos/30280-01.jpg
Figure 7 - Courtesy of http://www.saltersboats.com.au/Files/30253/Photos/30253-01.jpg
Vessels
such as this are little more than 10% of the size of the “Margiris” and are therefore quite limited in both their range of
operation and the quantity of fish that they can catch. Thus, to reach the new “free fishing” areas
beyond the Coral Sea Marine Park will be beyond their range and beyond their
ability to keep the catch fresh for long enough to be sold fresh.
The
jobs of these fishermen will disappear and Australia will become dependent upon
foreign-flagged super-trawlers, like the “Margiris”,
with all money for fish sales going overseas.
How will this be good for the Australian economy? How will this encourage growth of jobs and wealth
in regional areas of Australia?
Earlier,
I referred to the Federal Greens Party being a partner of the Australian Labour
Party, in governing Australia. This
might easily lead people to believe that all environmental groups are in favour
of the declaration of these areas as being free of commercial fishing activity. This is an incorrect assumption and it is
worthwhile reading the published comments of the Australian Environment
Foundation.
AEF
“About Us” – http://aefweb.info/about.php
and
AEF
“Huge Coral Sea 'no-take' zones irresponsible” – http://aefweb.info/media826.html
Part
of what they say about themselves is reproduced as follows.
The Australian
Environment Foundation (AEF) is a not-for-profit, membership-based
environmental organisation having no political affiliation. We take an evidence-based, solution focused
approach to environmental issues.
While it may be
true to say that "We are all environmentalists now", the great
majority of Australians have little or no say in the environmental policies
being put to governments – federal, state or local. These policies are almost exclusively the
domain of a tight network of conservation groups ensuring one view, and one
view only, is put forward.
The AEF is a
different kind of environment group, caring for both Australia &
Australians.
Many of our
members are practical environmentalists – people who actively use and also care
for the environment.
We accept that
environmental protection and sustainable resource use are generally compatible.
It
is disheartening to understand from this that not all views put forward
by environmental supporters are heard.
One can only wonder about the motive behind this, as it does not afford
any measure of balance. Perhaps we must
all go back to living off the land – though we must be careful that, in doing
so, we do not cut down any trees or hurt any animals!
Indeed,
there would be very few Australians who would not agree that we need to be
balanced in our approach to environmental protection and sustainable use of natural
resources. We need both if Australia –
and especially the regional areas – are to grow jobs and wealth, which has been
one of the stated goals of the Australian Federal Government of Julia Gillard
and the Federal Greens Party.
In
their article titled “Huge Coral Sea 'no-take' zones irresponsible”, part of
what they say is as follows.
“A cursory
examination of publicly available data clearly shows Australian fishery harvest
is the most environmentally friendly in the world with harvests of less than 1%
of recognised sustainable yields from the world’s largest per capita fishery.”
All Coral Sea
fisheries are strictly managed with small quotas. Nearly all Coral Sea islands and reefs are
already protected in marine parks. All
Coral Sea marine species are already protected in the world’s largest coral
reef park, the Great Barrier Reef National Park.
Research
undertaken by the AEF with marine biologist, Dr Walter Starck has confirmed
that no marine species in Australian waters is threatened with extinction by
commercial fishing. Also no reduction of
marine biodiversity from fishing has been documented in Australia.
This feeds into the points raised by
several members of the Federal Opposition, which include the lack of scientific
data to support the notion that fish species in the Coral Sea are under any
threat at all. The comments also include
references to the very small quantity of “by-catch” (which generally means “fish
caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish”) by
Australian fishermen, compared to the massive quantity of by-catch by super
trawlers.
How can this be an improvement in
sustainable fishing, if our government prohibits the sustainable methods
employed by Australian fisherman, yet encourages the rape of all fish species,
regardless of whether or not any particular species is a required part of the
catch?
Every Australian needs to think about
the impact of the decision by the current Federal Government. Do you like to eat seafood occasionally? It is most certainly one of the healthiest
forms of food that we can eat. When you
see “catch of the day” on the menu at your favourite restaurant, you are
entitled to believe that the fish is fresh-caught and locally processed, under
very strict standards of human health and hygiene.
When the only available seafood comes
from foreign-flagged super trawlers that might be based in countries with
lesser standards for human health and hygiene, will you still want to eat
it? There will be instances where the
answer to that question will be “no” and this will result in the closure of
many Australian businesses – both seafood shops and restaurants – with consequent
loss of jobs for many people.
Earlier in this blog, I posed several
questions that can now be addressed.
Question
: Where and how will Australians be able to source seafood
after commercial fishing is banned in all these areas?
There can be no guarantee that the
local “catch of the day” will be either local, or fresh, or even processed
under the human health and hygiene standards to which Australians have become
accustomed. Fish will be sourced from
southern waters, in super trawlers, then end up being imported from overseas –
or, maybe, we can buy direct from foreign-flagged fishing vessels that will
enter these areas illegally.
Question
: Do we have our own fleet of deep-sea super trawlers to take
over the jobs of the many commercial and charter fishermen who currently earn
their living in these waters?
No, we do not. The commercial fishing industry will, by and
large, cease to exist as an Australian enterprise in which money will be earned
by Australians and stay in Australia.
The charter fishing industry is even more specialised because it caters
to tourists – both foreign and domestic.
The Federal Government has said that it will compensate the commercial
fishermen – in other words, they’ll try to throw money at a problem of their
own making and, somehow, this will compensate for the loss of jobs and livelihoods.
This short-sighted approach will not
help commercial fishermen – how can they ever be compensated for a lifetime of
dedication to the fishing industry? Will
the compensation extend to the charter fishing industry? Will it extend to all the jobs in speciality
seafood shops and restaurants that will be lost because of the loss of our
fishing industry?
Question
: How can we be sure that the ban on fishing will be
enforced?
This is the well-known “$64 dollar
question”! The Federal Government has
recently made deep cuts in the budget for the Defence Forces, which will impact
on their ability to police these areas effectively. The sea distances are too vast to be handled
by any of the State or Federal Police agencies and we do not have the type of
Coast Guard that might be able to handle the task.
It has been reported that Sea Shepherd
has volunteered to undertake the policing role and this will be music to the
ears of the Federal Government. They won’t
have to pay a cent for this effort. But,
will they provide Sea Shepherd with any powers of arrest, or any authority to
forcibly evict illegal fishing activities?
Without formal power and authority,
the involvement of Sea Shepherd will not achieve the result of ensuring that no
fishing occurs within the Marine Park preservation area. As a result, we’ll see more illegal boats in
that area than we’ve ever seen carrying illegal migrants!
There
is one final question that must now be asked, given that the establishment of
this area is set to become law, without any consideration about growing
Australian jobs, the Australian economy as a whole and the regional economies
in particular. The question is simply…
why?
There
can be only one answer to this and it has nothing at all to do with the lofty
goals of Australian jobs and prosperity.
Julia Gillard has seen the writing on the wall for the next federal
election and will do anything at all to appease the Greens, in her effort to
cling to power. She has essentially told
the whole Australian electorate that her job is more important than their jobs
and possibly even their health.
Good luck to all of us – we’ll need it
to deal with this disaster.
