Marine Parks (Sanctuary Zones) Amendment Bill
02/07/2014
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: I will speak briefly today on the Hon. Ms Lensink’s Marine Parks (Sanctuary Zones) Amendment Bill. I would like to thank the Hon. Ms Lensink for providing a briefing on her bill and for arranging a meeting with commercial fishing stakeholders, Wildcatch. I would also like to thank the office of the Hon. Ian Hunter, Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, for providing my office with comprehensive information about the proposed bill from its perspective.
Unfortunately I am unable to support the proposal at this time. Dignity for Disability believes that the small percentage of South Australian waters (6 per cent) that are now zoned marine parks do not need to be further scaled back. While the Wildcatch fishers told me they were reliant on parts of these zones for commercial fishing, I do not believe this can viably be the case at this point. Yes, some of the 6 per cent that are zoned marine parks contain very diverse and significant fish populations, but you would expect that to be the case.
We have to be proactive to protect our precious marine environment for our children, our children’s children, and the generations that will follow that. Many conservationists and marine biology experts that advised on marine park zoning during the consultation process wanted up to 20 per cent of South Australian waters zoned as marine parks. I also understand that some 6,000 submissions were received and considered. There was clearly debate and there was compromise. We ended up with only 6 per cent of our waters zoned as marine parks.
If in 10 years we find that we do not need the scale of marine parks that we currently have, we can rezone, but to do so now is far too risky for our marine environment. We have already done untold damage to Gulf St Vincent through human activity since the English invaded the Adelaide Plains some 180 years ago. I do not think that we should risk any further damage to our marine environment, so Dignity for Disability will not be supporting the bill at this time.
