[Greens-Media] Don't open 10, 000sq km of WA's ocean to bottom-trawling: Greens

[Dortch, Eloise (Sen S. Ludlam)]

Don't open 10,000sq km of WA's ocean to bottom-trawling: Greens  
MEDIA RELEASE, Wednesday, 12 August 2009

The Australian Greens say a tussle between the Federal and State
governments for control of the ocean must not be allowed to result in
10,000sq km of Western Australia's marine areas being exposed to
bottom-trawling.

"Bottom-trawling is effectively factory farming of the ocean," Senator
WA Rachel Siewert said. "It wrecks fragile structures such as coral
reefs and sponge gardens and indiscriminately sweeps up whatever marine
life is in front of the nets. 

"If the boundary changes proposed by the Federal Australian Fisheries
Management Authority to the Western Deepwater Trawl and North West Slope
Trawl fisheries go through, 4100sq km off the Gascoyne coast and 6000sq
km off the Kimberley will be exposed to bottom trawling.

"Both AFMA fisheries are ostensibly targeting crustaceans such as scampi
but if these changes are allowed, the trawlers are also likely to catch
demersal scalefish in the nets  - this will impact on the WA line
fishers who already targeting high-value demersal scalefish in these
areas.

 "The area off the Gascoyne has never been trawled and is considered
relatively pristine while the area off the Kimberley region was trawled
by Taiwanese fishers in the past but is thought to have recovered since
then.

"The region off the Kimberley has been proven to include areas shallower
than 200 metres; in other words, it was never intended to be within the
AFMA trawl fishery in the first place but now AFMA is threatening to let
a closure lapse that will allow trawlers in.

 "I call on Tony Burke and Environment Minister Peter Garrett to
immediately protect the 6000sq km areas off the Kimberley by reinstating
the closure due to lapse in October.

"I also call on them to defer a decision on the  boundary change for
both of the AFMA fisheries until Federal marine regional planning for
south-west and north-west WA, which is already underway, is complete."

For more information or media inquiries, please call Eloise Dortch on
0415 507 763