Leader of the Shooters and Fishers Party Robert Brown MLC says massive fish kills in the Jervis Bay Marine Park (see story HERE) confirm that the main threats to our marine environment are pollution, inappropriate development and exotic species – not recreational fishing.
“Jervis Bay and surrounds are strewn with thousands of dead flathead, bream, mullet and other popular table species and the Marine Park Authority can’t tell us why,” commented Brown.
The Shooters and Fishers Party leader initiated and chaired the NSW Legislative Council Select Committee Inquiry on Recreational Fishing whose findings were tabled in December last year. The Inquiry identified pollution as the big issue and outlines steps to combat it.
“Fishing is the only activity banned in our marine parks while the Marine Park Authority has done nothing to address the real problem of pollution,” said Brown.
“These Jervis Bay fish kills confirm the Inquiry’s findings: pollution and habitat loss are the real threat to fish stocks. But the NSW Labor Government would rather keep declaring parks for political rather than ecological gain,” he said.
Recommendation 3 of the report requests:
That the Recreational Fishing Trust Funds provide a greater allocation of available funds to rehabilitation and restoration of aquatic habitat and establish formal Memoranda of Understanding and funding arrangements with relevant Catchment Management Authorities to undertake inland river, estuary and coastal pollution reduction programs.
“The Government needs to start using our fishing license fees to protect fish stocks from pollution rather than locking us out,” said Mr Brown.
The Report recommends identifying land based licensed and unlicensed discharges and pollution into marine protected areas and prioritising them for remedial action.
“They’ve got their work cut out for them protecting existing marine parks from pollution without declaring more they can’t look after. For fishers the 26th of March can’t come fast enough,” Brown concluded.
