MINISTER for Primary Industries, Niall Blair, and Environment Minister, Mark Speakman, have announced eight initiatives to enhance marine biodiversity conservation along the coast and in estuaries between Newcastle and Wollongong.
Mr Blair has said threats to the environmental assets and the social and economic benefits of a bioregion have been identified for the first time and prioritised through community engagement and an evidence based threat and risk assessment.
“The initiatives aim to enhance marine biodiversity conservation while also achieving balanced outcomes for multiple uses of the bioregion such as boating, fishing, shipping, diving, swimming, education and research,” Mr Blair said.
The eight initiatives focus on:
- Improving water quality and reducing marine litter
- On ground works for healthy coastal habitats and wildlife
- Spatial management for biodiversity conservation and use sharing
- Marine research to address shipping and fishing knowledge gaps
- Improving boating infrastructure
- Reducing use conflicts in Pittwater
- Improving accessibility
- Land use planning for coasts and waterways.
Mr Speakman said the NSW Government was seeking the community’s feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the suggested initiatives.
“I acknowledge the community’s enormous amount of work to inform the threat and risk assessment and management responses,” Mr Speakman said.
“I encourage the community to continue this great work and provide feedback on the initiatives to help further evaluation of the management responses and final recommendations to the NSW Government later this year.”
The paper will underpin a two month public engagement process. Submissions close on 24 April 2016.
You can have your say, and visit the discussion paper on this page of the NSW Marine website.
Note: Stay tuned to Fisho for further analysis and comment on this issue.
