Marine

A summary of NSW polling on marine parks and sanctuaries

 

December 2013

Five independent polls on the issue of marine parks and sanctuaries have been conducted in NSW since 2008. Below is a summary of this polling, complete with links to full results, data and methodologies.  

 

Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Clarence Valley residents – 80% support for Solitary Islands sanctuaries

A survey conducted for the NSW Marine Parks Authority in January 2008 of 407 residents in the Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Clarence Valley areas found that four in five respondents (80%) stated that they were in favour of the sanctuary zones in the nearby Solitary Islands Marine Park with only 5% stating they were against. A further 14% said they were neutral and just 1% were unsure. The majority of fishers (68%) were in favour of the sanctuary zones in Solitary Islands Marine Park with only 12% against. 20% were neutral.

 

Source: McGregor Tan research (2008), Solitary Islands Marine Park Community Survey Final Report, Prepared for: NSW Marine Parks Authority Project No: 8353 http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/pdf/SIMP-Community-survey-2008.pdf

 

Shoalhaven shire residents – 82% support for Jervis Bay Marine Park sanctuaries

A survey conducted for the NSW Marine Parks Authority in January 2008 of 402 residents in the Shoalhaven local government area found that more than four in five respondents (82%) stated that they were in favour of the sanctuary zones in Jervis Bay Marine Park, with only 5% stating they were against. A further 10% mentioned they were neutral and just 3% were unsure. The majority of fishers (76%) supported the sanctuary zones in Jervis Bay Marine Park.

 

Source: McGregor Tan research (2008), Jervis Bay Marine Park Community Survey Final Report. Prepared for: NSW Marine Parks Authority Project No: 8353 Date: February 2008 http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/pdf/jbmp-community-survey-2008.pdf

 

Lord Howe residents and visitors – over 91% support for Lord Howe Island Marine Park sanctuaries

A survey conducted for the NSW Marine Parks Authority from December 2008 to January 2009 of 500 Lord Howe Island residents and visitors found that 91% of residents and 96% of visitors supported the Lord Howe Island Marine Park sanctuary zones. Of these results, 90% of fishers supported sanctuary zones.

 

Source: Marine Parks Authority NSW (2010), Lord Howe Island Marine Park Summary of Research and Monitoring Date: May 2010  http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/pdf/Summary-Research.pdf

 

New South Wales residents – 85% support for marine sanctuaries

A survey conducted for the NSW Government in June and July 2009 of 2,003 NSW residents showed particularly strong agreement (85% agreed or agreed strongly) that some areas of the marine environment should be protected, even if it means recreational and commercial fishing is excluded. In the Sydney metropolitan area this support increased to 89%.

 

Source: Who cares about the environment? http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/community/whocares2009.htm#summary

 

New South Wales residents – highest support for Commonwealth marine reserves of any state

The Essential Report conducted on 24 June 2013 with 1,031 respondents shows that the Australian Government’s decision to create a national network of marine parks and sanctuaries was more popular (and less unpopular) in NSW than any other state in Australia. In NSW this decision was the third most popular policy announcement of the last Federal Government, with 68% total ‘good’ and 8% total ‘bad’.

 

Source: Essential Research Pty Ltd, The Essential Report 24 June 2013 http://essentialvision.com.au/category/essentialreport

 

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE FUTURE OF YOUR SEAS

The Australian public are custodians of Australia’s territorial waters, these extend from 5.5km to 200 kilometres off-shore from all the lands we claim. These waters are the commons that we all own and have a responsibility to look after. The Commonwealth Government is now deciding what parts of your waters it will protect to establish the promised Comprehensive Adequate and Representative (CAR) marine reserve system.

The reserve system is required to include a full range of ecosystems, reasonably reflect the biotic diversity within those ecosystems, and have the required level of reservation to ensure the ecological viability and integrity of populations, species and communities. The evidence is that this will require 20-50% of each population and ecosystem to be fully protected from fishing.

The Commonwealth had divided your waters into six marine regions, and is now deciding the future of five of these regions (it has already decided the fate of waters off Victoria and Tasmania). The waters off NSW are mostly in the Temperate East Marine Region, which extends from Bermagui on the south coast to past Fraser Island, and out to beyond Norfolk Island.

The Commonwealth is proposing that 25% of this region be incorporated into marine reserves, though most reserves are still available for most forms of fishing, with only 4% fully protected in Marine National Park zones.

The proposed outcomes are far worse for coastal ecosystems, with a mere 1.6% of the continental shelf proposed for reservation, with only 0.01% fully protected. Similarly for the continental slope only 8% is proposed for reservation with none fully protected. This is one of the worst outcomes in Australia. We have been duded.

Numerous ecosystems, key ecological features, biologically important areas and severely depleted species have been excluded.

YOU HAVE UNTIL 21 FEBRUARY 2012 TO BE A RESPONSIBLE OWNER AND HAVE YOUR SAY

Conservation groups have reviewed all the Commonwealth’s proposals for this region and recommended a variety of additions, and local conservationist Dailan Pugh has prepared a specific proposal for a Tweed-Byron Marine Reserve. Both reports are available on the marine section of the North Coast Environment Council website https://ncec.wordpress.com/marine/

Please emai your wishes to: Submissions.TemperateEast@environment.gov.au.

Key asks for NSW’s north-coast waters are:

• Establishing the proposed Tweed-Byron Commonwealth Marine Reserve;
• Establishing a link between the proposed Clarence Commonwealth Marine Reserve and the existing Solitary Islands Marine Park, and upgrading the habitat protection zone in the Commonwealth’s existing Solitary Islands Marine Park to a National Parks zone to better protect the habitat of the Grey Nurse Shark, and
• Expanding the boundary of the proposed Hunter Commonwealth Marine Reserve southwards to Nelson Bay;

You may also wish to ask

• That extensive Marine National Park zones be established in all marine reserves, with a minimum of 20-50% of the regional extent of each ecosystem included in Marine National Park zones
• That mining and oil and gas exploration and production be excluded from marine reserves.

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The North Coast Environment Council supports the proposed Tweed Byron Marine Reserve. You can read the full proposal and see the submission guide at the links below.

Please show your support for marine conservation and the proposed Tweed-Byron Commonwealth Marine Reserve by emailing: Submissions.TemperateEast@environment.gov.au

Proposed_Tweed_Byron_Marine_Reserve

Final Submission Guide to Temperate East Marine Region Draft Plan feb 2012