According to Federal Coalition spokesperson for fisheries, Senator Richard Colbeck, a proposal by a fringe environmental group to introduce 20 new marine parks off the coast of Victoria is another threat to Australia’s recreational and commercial fishing industries.
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,” Colbeck said.
“There has become a marine lock-up mentality across Labor Governments fed by fringe environmental groups.
“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.
“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 are available at:
http://vnpa.org.au/admin/library/attachments/Marine/marine-priority-areas.pdf
Fisho will keep you updated of further developments in this story soon.
