NEW NSW MARINE PLAN FAILS TO PROTECT OCEAN AND MARINE LIFE

The NSW Greens have condemned the Government's protracted reforms to the management of the state's oceans and estuaries, describing a new draft 10-year marine strategy as a 'plan for a plan' and inadequate to protect oceans and marine life.

Greens Marine Spokesperson Justin Field said the 10-year marine strategy had little detail, included no funding and largely ignored the risks of climate change to the marine environment and the community's enjoyment of it.


"The NSW Government started a marine plan in 2011 but six years later, and after thousands of pages of reports and risk assessments, the new Marine Estate Management Strategy has not delivered any new protections for the marine environment and is years behind schedule," he said.

"The Government must explain why climate change has been significantly downgraded as a threat to the marine environment since the draft strategy was released. The reality is that climate change remains the biggest threat to healthy oceans and our enjoyment of the coastline but once again a Liberal/National Government is playing politics with climate policy and marine protected areas.

"This draft strategy also delays the creation of new marine parks and opens the door to a loss of protected areas in existing marine parks. This is despite clear recommendations from their own scientific audit in 2011 that recommended expanding the current network of marine parks given the critical challenges facing our oceans and marine life.

"The Liberal/National Government is once again pandering to the Shooters and Fishers Party and the recreational fishing lobby when it comes to maintaining healthy oceans and estuaries. Most fishers and other water users support protected areas and want to see the issues of pollution, over-fishing and habitat loss through inappropriate development dealt with.

"The best way to build the resilience of our marine environment to deal with climate change impacts is to have a robust network of fully protected marine sanctuaries. A healthy economy and healthy fisheries rely on a healthy marine environment.

"The Greens support a new multi-use Marine Park in Sydney that can be something for everyone and that supports fishing and other uses with dedicated sanctuary areas put aside to strengthen marine biodiversity and ensure fish for the future," Mr Field said.

Submissions on the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy are open until 8 December 2017.
Strategy documents available here: https://www.marine.nsw.gov.au/key-initiatives/marine-estate-management-strategy
6 November 2017