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Marine sanctuaries are needed now

Save Our Marine Life is calling for the creation of a network of large marine sanctuaries around Australia, starting in our South West where the Federal Government is currently considering areas for protection. Why do we need marine sanctuaries? Here’s why.

1. To save valuable species from extinction

Research has proven that marine sanctuaries play an essential role in rebuilding numbers of threatened fish and other species and restoring the abundance and diversity of marine life.

Recently, world-first research by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University showed that establishing a network of marine sanctuaries protects species from local extinction.

This research demonstrated that small, isolated marine parks simply do not provide the necessary protection for marine life and that creating a network of protected areas will ensure our unique marine life survives and thrives into the future.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences (PNAS): http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/03/20/0808007106.abstract#aff-3

The results were also announced on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies’ website: http://www.coralcoe.org.au/news_stories/marineparks.html

This research is part of a vast body of evidence now demonstrating the need for the Federal Government to create a network of marine sanctuaries around Australia, starting in the south west of Australia, where less than one per cent of the marine environment is currently protected.

In January 2011, the University of Adelaide published a literature review with 63 individual science-based studies that provide evidence of the increase in individual fish species numbers and also the decrease in marine predators such as the Crown of Thorns Starfish as a result of a healthier marine environment in a no-take marine sanctuary.

These studies provided evidence of the benefits of marine sanctuaries in Tasmania, the Great Barrier Reef and Rottnest Island in WA, as well as overseas studies in New Zealand, the Philippines, the Caribbean and Chile.

2. To Make Our Oceans Icons For Eco Tourism

Establishing large marine sanctuaries in Australia’s south west waters would underpin the future of tourism in the region according to leading Western Australian economic and tourism researchers.

A landmark study by the respected Allen Consulting Group found that creating a network of marine sanctuaries would support growth of the whale, dolphin and seal watching industry to inject up to $55 million per year into the WA economy, and provide increased stocks of marine life.

The Economics of Marine Protected Areas also found that marine sanctuaries would provide spill over benefits worth millions to help offset any loses to commercial fishing, and provide more stable and sustainable catches into the future.

The study found that marine sanctuaries would generate long term economic prosperity with a more diverse economy and more resilient fish stocks outweighing the short term costs of establishing sanctuaries.

Leading research from Curtin Universities Sustainable Tourism Centre has backed the study, showing that marine sanctuaries will help enhance and protect the south west’s ‘clean, green, pristine’ tourism brand, worth millions each year. Sanctuaries will help attract lucrative eco-tourists who spend $6000 per visit on average, much more than the $3,500 per visit spent by other visitors.

The Allen Consulting study also revealed that marine sanctuaries wouldn’t result in a significant financial impact on the recreational fishing industry as has been claimed.

The study found a worst case scenario would be as low as $3.25 million, much less than the $500 million previously claimed by the industry.

It found that protecting the marine environment can result in more sustainable catch rates – this is because sanctuaries act as a buffer against fluctuations in fish stocks due to environmental changes or mistakes in the management of fisheries.

The study was also endorsed by one of WA’s leading business figures, the Executive Chairman of Azure Capital, John Poynton.

“There are many economic benefits for WA that flow from protecting important areas of our unique marine environment. I believe this report should now encourage the federal and state government to work together to create large new marine sanctuaries in the south west,” Mr Poynton said.

The report found that Western Australians value the marine environment far more than any of the costs that might arise from creating marine sanctuaries.

This is based on two detailed economic studies and indicates that the value the public places on protection of WA’s marine environment could be as high as $200 million each year based on research data from Ningaloo and Ngarri Marine Parks.

The full report The economics of marine protected areas – application of principles to Australia’s South West Marine Region by Allen Consulting Group can be downloaded here: http://www.saveourmarinelife.org.au/stuff

Economic benefits of sanctuaries – study summary:
- Establishing marine sanctuaries would result in an estimated 5% increase in catch in the Rock Lobster Fishery, generating up to $2.4 million in additional economic benefit.The direct economic benefits for tourism operations such as whale watching would initially increase from $45 million per year up to $55 million.

- Marine sanctuaries would continue to stimulate growth of the ecotourism industry in WA.

- The community values the marine environment far more than any of the costs that might arise from creating marine sanctuaries. This is based on two detailed economic studies and indicates that the value the public places on protection of our marine environment could be as high as $200 million each year.

- This is based on research conducted at Ningaloo Marine Park earlier this year which established that visitors are prepared to pay up to $140 each per year to support environmental improvements through an annual fee to fund environmental management.

- A similar economic study in the proposed Ngarri Marine Park also found that people put a very high value on their marine environment and its protection.

The full report The economics of marine protected areas – application of principles to Australia’s South West Marine Region by Allen Consulting Group can be downloaded here http://www.saveourmarinelife.org.au/stuff

3. To protect marine life for future generations

The founder of Clean Up Australia, Ian Kiernan has thrown his support behind the need for marine sanctuaries because he is concerned that unless we act now, future generations will miss out on the riches our oceans provide.

Here’s his message to us all and to the Federal Government:

By Ian Kiernan AO,

Chairman, Clean Up Australia

It was pollution of our oceans that motivated me to create Clean Up Australia. When I sailed solo around the world in 1986/87, I looked forward to visiting the fabled Sargasso Sea at the heart of the Bermuda Triangle. Famous for being a ‘golden rain forest of the sea’, literally covered by seaweed, I instead found a fading legend carpeted by rubbish.

Since the first clean up of Sydney Harbour in 1989, the Australian public has demonstrated its overwhelming interest and concern about the health of our waterways and rugged landscapes by taking action to conserve our natural environment.

But this is not enough to secure the long term health of our oceans and waterways. Almost a quarter of a century after I started Clean Up Australia, I believe the efforts of the Australian community have been let down by successive governments, which have failed to take the necessary action to safeguard our waters and marine life for future generations.

Less than five per cent of the 16.5 million square kilometres of oceans around Australia are protected from the serious threats of over fishing and pollution, despite many of our marine species being found nowhere else.

Pollution, over fishing and entanglement in nets are just some of the many threats to Australia’s extraordinary oceans and marine life. Since Clean Up Australia began in 1989, the number of Australian fisheries that are overfished has increased from five to 15. Australian fisheries are among the most highly regulated in the world and yet the decline in our fish stocks continues.

Action to protect both our marine environment and boost fish stocks has all too often been stifled by election-cycle hysterics. Claims by some politicians that marine protection costs jobs are not supported by social, economic or scientific evidence.

The frustrating irony of Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s anti-marine park mantra during the last election campaign of “man and nature must live together” was that it played out on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Far from driving division between man and nature, the world famous marine park attracts 1.9 million visitors each year, generating more than $5 billion in revenue.

I’ve been around boats for a long time and all too often I hear a different message from those involved in ‘tinny politics’: You want to catch the best and biggest fish? Fish the edge of a marine park.

In 2011, the federal government has an historic opportunity to deliver on its promise to improve protection of our oceans and become a world leader in marine conservation.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is due to make decisions about Australia’s iconic south west, stretching from Kangaroo Island in SA to Geraldton in WA, in the next few months. This is a largely unknown part of our waters, but it is now in the spotlight because it is special.

This is Atlantis found: there is a greater level of unique marine life found in the south west than on the Great Barrier Reef; our biggest mountains are actually found here beneath the waves, more than 7000m deep, and; here you’ll find the only two places in Australia where the world’s largest animal, the blue whale, comes to feed.

Despite this, less than one per cent of this region is currently protected from the threats of over fishing and damage from oil spills.

The University of Queensland recently published the most authoritative science study of the south west region ever conducted. There is now a blueprint for protecting the future of fish stocks and marine life in the region while minimising impacts on industries such as commercial fishing.

The federal government now has all the evidence it needs to make an informed decision to create a network of large marine sanctuaries for marine life. And opponents that claim there is no evidence that sanctuaries work have run out of credibility.

Close on the heels of our south west, the federal government will turn its attention to the Coral Sea, the setting for Australia’s first great naval victory in 1942. A large, world-class marine park in the Coral Sea, next to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, would ensure coral reefs and large populations of tuna, sharks and billfish remain healthy for the future.

Australia should take notice, also, about what is now happening in the Sargasso Sea. The Bermuda Government is showing leadership and has formed an alliance with science and conservation groups to ensure the sea without shores has a future.

‘Tinny politics’ can end the debate over marine protection. It is not a case of there being a choice between protecting the marine environment and jobs or local industries. They are interlinked and a network of marine sanctuaries would ensure our oceans remain healthy and keep fish on our plates.

Photos by Glen Cowans & Josh Coates