WELL, the Coalition’s back in power in Canberra so where to now on the polarising MPA management plans?
They’d been passed through the House of Reps prior to the election and therefore should be sitting waiting for consideration by the Senate when it meets. But the new Environment Minister Greg Hunt has being quoted as saying that the new government will “as soon as practicable suspend and review the flawed management plans”, and to re-visit the no-take zones and MPA boundaries, as was virtually promised to both the commercial and the rec sectors prior to the election.
Will they be held back from a Senate vote while this happens, or will there be some lobbying of the independents by the new government to try and get the plans rejected?
As it stands, Labor looks to have 26 seats and the Greens 9, giving them 35 votes presumably in support of the MPAs as proposed. The Coalition has 33 seats, and there seem to be three Palmer United Party senators. If big Clive went with the government and opposed the MPAs, then they’d have 36 votes.
But there are five other independents: Nick Xenophon, a Liberal Democrat (previously known as the Outdoor Recreation Party), Family First, the DLP and the Motoring Enthusiast Party. You’d guess the Liberal Democrat wouldn’t support the plans, but who’d know about the rest. We might have to wait for a full Senate/double dissolution election to see it cleared up.
Back in NSW, a set of previously existing aquatic reserves has been re-gazetted, in the Monday September 2, 2013 Government Gazette. There are 12 reserves listed with their prohibited activities, and a pretty confusing list it is too.
At Barrenjoey Head, Boat Harbour, Bronte-Coogee, Cape Banks and Narrabeen Head you can only run a fishing comp or take fish or marine vegetation for scientific purposes with a permit, you can’t take marine invertebrates at all (crabs, cunje, shellfish, occies, mussels etc, as with all the others) but you can line fish or spear fish and pick sea lettuce and green weed for luderick and rock blackfish bait.
At Cabbage Tree Bay, Bushranger’s Bay and Shiprock you can’t do anything much other than look at things, but at Long Reef you can line or spear fish but not pick lettuce or weed. In North Harbour you can line fish but not spear fish or pick lettuce or weed. At Towra Point you can line fish and use a prawn net in part but not all of the reserve but not spear fish or pick lettuce or weed.
To be sure of what you can do legally at Cook Island you need a GPS to work out where you can fish and you must hold onto your rod or handline at all times when fishing … tape over those rod holders. And don’t go after silver drummer with brown lettuce or brown weed or confuse it with the green stuff as it’s not legal to pick it anywhere in these reserves, except at Cook Island. Got all that?
My head hurts, and that’s without even thinking about how far I’ve got to be from the water’s edge in NSW to legally fillet a fish or two…
