After public consultation with South Australia’s recreational fishing groups, fishing industry, councils and environment groups the proposed magnitude of marine parks gazetted for the state has been slightly reduced.
The South Australian Government says 44 per cent of the state’s waters will be situated in marine parks instead of 46 per cent as previously proposed.
According to an ABC news report, SA Environment and Conservation Minister Jay Weatherill thinks a good compromise has been reached.
“These changes will accommodate industry and community concerns about sensitive sites while helping conserve the habitats we need to protect,” Weatherill said.
“I’m also very confident that we can have a very prosperous fishing industry, we can have recreational fishers enjoying all of the things they used to do and making sure that all of those uses can continue to occur at the same time.
“It has been good to get the various interest groups working together and I look forward to that co-operation continuing through the next stage of developing the marine parks system.”
Spokesman for the Wilderness Society, Peter Owen, says the compromise is welcome.
“I think today’s announcement is a very positive step for marine conservation in South Australia,” he said. We’ve still got a long way to go. These are just the outer boundaries – the sanctuary zones have yet to be determined, but this is a fantastic first step.”
The changes have been proclaimed by SA’s Governor.
