Dear Sir,
Inquiry into the establishment of a Marine Protected Area within the Davey and Twofold Shelf Bioregions
Thank you for the opportunity to present a submission on behalf of the commercial fishing industry in Tasmania on this most important issue.
The Tasmanian Fishing Industry Council (TFIC) is the peak industry body representing the best interests of all licensed commercial fishermen, fish processors and marine farmers in Tasmania and we therefore have a significant interest in any proposal, including this reference from the Minister, which may impact in anyway on the commercial activities of our members.
I am sure the Commission is aware that the creation of even more marine restricted areas is a very contentious issue in Tasmania and historically there have been many heated public meetings about previous proposals to create MPAs in the Davey and Twofold Shelf bioregions.
My commercial fishing industry members have very real and serious concerns about any attempt to exclude them from their traditional fishing grounds and to lock up areas of our State waters for little apparent benefit.
But before any proposals are firmed up to create an area where marine activity is restricted it is important to carefully consider all existing and current issues that are relevant to our complex marine environment.
It is not appropriate, for instance, to advocate establishing at least one marine reserve in each so called bioregion around Tasmania, or for that matter to enshrine a percentage of the waters around our State as marine reserves, without a complete knowledge of how fisheries are managed in this State and the likely effect of restricting fishing activity in the areas involved.
It is therefore my intention to mention just a few current and major issues of importance to the commercial fishing industry and just some of the factors that should be taken into account before any new marine reserve concept is promoted.
Existing Commercial Fishing Industry
Sea fisheries and aquaculture is worth approximately $306m. per annum to the Tasmanian economy based solely on the landed values, and downstream processing, value adding and transportation probably doubles or even triples that figure.
Retailing and tourism of course also benefit from the availability of our high quality seafood products. We provide an extremely valuable food source and reduce Australia’s dependence on food imports.
We provide direct employment for about 7,000 Tasmanians in the catch and post catch sector and many regional and coastal communities around our State are heavily dependent on fishing and aquaculture activities to sustain their economies.
Existing Sustainable Fisheries Management
Despite the occasional bad press in years gone by it must be stated and recognised that commercial fishermen are of course conservationists.
The viability of our fishing fleet depends on a sustainable resource and marine environment and for this reason we already have in place biologically sustainable fishery management plans. These plans, where individual fisheries are managed by different strategies, ensure that all our major State fisheries are conducted in a manner that protects the marine environment and the harvestable resources within that environment for both current fisherman and for the generations that will follow us.
For instance our Abalone (2537t p.a. TAC)and Rock Lobster (1,523t p.a. TAC) commercial fisheries are totally controlled with scientifically sustainable and annual total allowable catches.
Along with this we have a scalefish fishery management plan and carefully structured legislation and rules which only permit certain types of fishing gear that can be used, defines open and closed seasons, size and trip limits etc. and a strict limit on the maximum number of vessels and operators in each fishery.
The sustainable catch limits and specific gear requirements for these limited entry fisheries are based on, in many cases, more than 20 years of scientific research and are flexible enough to be reviewed in line with new and identifiable changes in the availability of the species to be captured.
Existing Protected Areas
As part of the management controls for the Tasmanian fisheries there are also restrictions on areas of our coastline where, for instance, no fishing is permitted, there are recreational only fishing areas, no netting areas, shark nursery areas and areas where certain types of fishing are strictly controlled.
Many of these restrictions have been fully supported by fishermen and in fact many were introduced at the request of fishermen who identified the need many years ago.
If you add these restricted areas of our coastline to the four already declared local marine reserves at Governor Island, Maria Island, Tinderbox and Nine Pin Point, and include the marine farm leases where fishing activity is also prohibited, and add in port restrictions, rivers and streams, river mouths, bays and lagoons, we already have over 300 marine areas in Tasmania where fishing activities are prohibited or restricted.
These over 300 restrictions on fishing activities create in effect small and sometimes very large marine areas designed to protect the biodiversity and species of flora and fauna that are prevalent in these areas.
They include a representative range of marine habitats, a diverse range of plants, invertebrates and fish communities, seaweeds and grasses and also geological formations.
Are more protected areas needed ?
Given these existing sustainable fishery management arrangements and protected areas the question should be asked do we really need any more areas set aside and to be called Marine Reserves, Marine Parks or Marine Propagation Areas?
If creating marine reserves is a political or numbers game then existing protected areas could be renamed Marine Reserves and we would have more of these areas in Tasmania than anywhere else in the world.
I believe that Marine Reserves should be considered from a fisheries perspective and not just as areas for conservation.
If you have good biologically sustainable world class fisheries management - and we do - do we really need any more Marine Reserves?
If the marine ecosystem and bio-diversity is not being threatened by any sustainable practice then why have more marine reserves?
Some proponents in favour of marine reserves believe we need them to protect our fish stocks and as a fisheries management measure.
This theory, of course, assumes that we don’t have fishery management plans, strict catch limits, quotas, limited entry fisheries, minimum size limits or gear restrictions etc. and has absolutely no relevance in Tasmania or for that matter Australia.
Acting on faith that marine reserves provide benefits to fisheries rather than stringently testing the idea isn’t very scientific. There’s actually very little evidence that reserves have any benefit to fisheries and there is no evidence that I can find of any commercial fisheries benefiting from marine reserves in Tasmania.
Simply showing that the number of animals increases inside reserves if they are not fished only demonstrates that animals live longer if they aren’t taken and they grow bigger if they live longer.
There is an argument that fish in an MPA grow older than fish outside a reserve and that the reproductive capability of fish inside an MPA is therefore much less than the normal population of fish elsewhere. The establishment of an MPA then could be detrimental to the sustainability of the marine resource dependent of course on individual species and abundance.
To assess if marine reserves really do work for fish we need to find out if they increase the density or bio-mass outside the reserve not just inside. This has never been proven in Tasmania.
In Tasmania the effect of marine reserves on the commercial abalone and rock lobster fisheries is most likely nil as these fisheries are managed by TACs so effort will simply be shifted to other areas.
Significantly a recent Paper prepared by the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute states the following:
"Preliminary results from a project evaluating the use of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a management tool for rock lobsters (and other species) has shown that MPAs are of low value for management of the Tasmanian rock lobster fishery, with the exception of smaller areas that contribute through research.
In scenarios where catch was constrained by a TACC, the implementation of MPAs increased the risk of a decline in the biomass and egg production levels. It appears that current practices that manage the stock as a whole (e.g. size limits, gear, catch and effort restrictions) are more likely to lead to the continuation of stock rebuilding, and possible associated ecological benefits. Closure of fishing regions using MPAs would require a reduction in the TACC by the equivalent loss in catch to ensure sustainability of the stock and to meet management objectives (e.g. rebuilding of biomass)".
The affect of marine reserves in conjunction with TACs on regions open to fishing has never been assessed in any research that I can find.
Other Objectives
It may be more constructive and beneficial for instance to direct effort towards the prevention and reduction of land based pollution into our rivers, streams, bays and lagoons where many juvenile fish species spend their early life.
We could also focus our attention on the effect of seal populations on our fish stocks. Anecdotal evidence in the SouthEast fishery suggests that seals take considerably more fish than fishermen ever could.
Marine Propagation Areas - an Industry initiative
I am sure you will be interested to know that in 1996, in a unified partnership and probably a world first, my organisation, the Tasmanian Fishing Industry Council and the Tasmanian Amateur Sea Fishermen’s Association joined together to review the need for Marine Propagation Areas (MPAs) in Tasmania.
These two peak bodies representing commercial and recreational fishermen called for nominations and we received a total of 98 submissions for suggested MPAs from fishermen and the general public.
We defined MPAs as areas that "preclude the taking of all flora and fauna in the area, and so maintain and enhance the biodiversity without impediment by human interventions".
Following a series of meetings around the State with commercial and recreational fishermen to consider submissions and after lengthy investigations TFIC and TASFA recommended that five MPAs be considered by the Ministers for DPIF and DELM under the Living Marine Resources Management Act and the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
The five recommendations to protect unique environments and habitats were :
* Three Sisters - Goat Island Marine Propagation Area;
* Lillico Beach Marine Propagation Area;
* Low Head Marine Propagation Area;
* St Helens Marine Propagation Area, and significantly the
* Bathurst Harbour/Bathurst Channel Marine Propagation Area.
Whilst these proposals were supported by the various fishing sectors they seem to have been totally ignored in the later rush to create marine reserves in the Davey and Twofold Shelf bioregions.
The process to consider marine reserves
If however, there are areas that can be identified as having clear advantages if fishing, or mining or petroleum exploration etc. is restricted then we should look at them.
Not just to put areas aside on a hell bent feel good basis using biodiversity as the current buzz word but rather for good, common sense, down to earth, practical and defined reasons with clear benefits for our regional communities, State and nation as a whole.
If you have an existing total allowable catch for a particular species, i.e. the 1523 t p.a. TAC for Rock Lobster, that TAC assumes that the current productive fishing areas will remain available.
If however you create a marine reserve that precludes rock lobster potting for instance from a certain area it will place increased pressure on the remaining productive areas around the coastline so this factor and the loss of income to fishermen must be considered in any marine reserve planning process.
The loss of any currently fished area could mean a loss of many millions of dollars worth of income to fishermen as well as for instance abalone royalties to the State Government and the adverse impact on regional and coastal communities around our State and jobs could be very significant indeed.
Enforcement
What will be the cost of enforcing a marine reserve? Who will pay and do we pay this cost forever?
It is an established and well-recognised fact that enforcement of marine reserves is difficult particularly in isolated and remote areas. The effectiveness of surveillance and ensuring compliance should be a major factor when marine reserves are considered particularly as poaching or more appropriately stealing of our resources is a constant problem.
Marine reserves in remote areas such as Port Davey and the Kent Group of Islands could not possibly be effectively policed without majority support from the commercial fishing industry to ensure that everyone strictly observes the rules.
The Marine Police say it will require extra funds to police new marine reserves and particularly in remote areas and agree that it is vital to have the support of the fishing industry and it will be very difficult to effectively police marine reserves without that support.
Multiple Use
For ecological, social, economic and political reasons, planning and management of marine protected areas should be conducted on the basis of multiple and sequential use such that commercial fishing is permitted in most of the zones that comprise an MPA.
Where multiple use is applied it must only allow uses that are compatible with the primary objectives for each management zone within the area.
For instance it may be acceptable to allow low impact fishing such as abalone diving, rock lobster potting, hand lining etc. to continue in some areas of a marine reserve but exclude sand mining as an example.
There are many examples where multiple use principles apply in marine reserves.
In the Great Australian Bight Marine Park long lining for tuna and marine scale line fishing are permitted.
In the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park commercial fishing including trawling, reef line fishing, spear fishing and charter boat fishing are all allowed in at least some zones in the Marine Park and World Heritage Area.
Closer to home in the Wilsons Promintory Marine Park in Victoria commercial taking of abalone and amateur line fishing are also permitted.
True impacts
Prior to the establishment of each MPA, an impact statement considering the environmental, biological, economic and social impact on all users should be undertaken. In particular the true economic impacts of implementing MPAs that exclude or limit fishing should be investigated thoroughly before the MPA is established. This should include any flow-on effects to the broader community.
Structural adjustment assistance or compensation should be offered to commercial fishermen for loss of access where this is deemed unavoidable in the creation of marine protected areas. The excess effort in the industry should be encouraged out of the fishery rather than being merely transferred elsewhere if this is not sustainable.
Management arrangements
The introduction of an MPA requires the development of a strategy to allow the area to be managed and monitored. A management strategy needs to be recognised and agreed prior to the establishment of an MPA.
A management strategy should only be adopted following a high level of community and user group agreement on its form and content.
Within the management strategy there needs to be a clear definition of zones of management prior to MPA proclamation. Where MPAs have no take zones - it is essential that these areas are identified on clearly defensible scientific grounds - such decisions must incorporate all interest groups.
In zones within MPAs where fishing activities are restricted or excluded, these arrangements must be applied consistently so as to cover non commercial groups with an interest in the area as well as other commercial resources extraction activities.
Formal recognition and commitment must be made to ongoing management at the time of proclamation of all MPAs. This should include the provision of adequate resources which are identified, available and funded in order to ensure compliance with MPA regulations.
Consultation
Commercial fishermen have an enormous amount of knowledge about the marine environment and this information is of immense value in designing the location, size and other attributes of MPAs. There is therefore a need for early and regular input by all users including the fishing industry. The legislative, policy and management frameworks and processes establishing MPAs need to be transparent and easy to follow.
The consultation phase should encompass two discreet periods - informally at the initial data gathering and information stage before views and opinions harden and through a more formal stage when specific plans are before industry.
We contend that if the above objectives and principles are followed then the Commission would be better informed of all the issues and opinions that exist and would be in a much better position to make constructive decisions and judgements on the contentious issue of MPAs in the two so called bioregions.
Davey bioregion
The TFIC MPA proposal supported by TASFA proposed a no take MPA for the Bathurst Channel and Bathurst Harbour area which have unique environments and habitats and encompasses a very large expanse of water.
Following further discussions with industry members and consideration of an earlier draft paper we may be prepared to support further areas in Payne Bay close to the Davey River and the southern area of Hannant Inlet provided of course that anchoring and the carrying of fish and fishing gear on vessels is permitted in all restricted areas. A map defining these areas is attached for your interest.
Port Davey is a traditional and very important commercial fishing and abalone diving area which is utilised all year round with significant benefits to the economy of our State and with an annual sustainable and renewable mainly export income for Tasmania.
The Port Davey harbour and surrounding exposed coastline is made up of a high percentage of rocky, weedy bottom which is ideal habitat for rock lobster and abalone. Most commercial vessels anchor on sandy bottom and this results in low or negligible impact activity by commercial fishermen.
There has been no proven or substantial damage caused in this area by commercial fishing or abalone diving and the thriving marine and estuarine habitats remain.
Any proposal that restricts commercial fishing or abalone diving in Port Davey would result in increased pressure on the remaining areas and particularly nearby areas which highlights the fisheries sustainability issue at a time when the rock lobster, abalone and scalefish fisheries are being managed on a sustainable basis with full fishery management plans in place.
• Port Davey provides essential shelter for commercial fishing vessels when weather conditions deteriorate around the West Coast of Tasmania and under these conditions the available sheltered waters of Port Davey enables fishing to continue until the weather abates. If fishing was not permitted in any areas of Port Davey, the fishermen taking shelter would suffer an enormous loss of fishing time.
We believe fishing would also become significantly less safe particularly for the smaller vessels as fishermen would inevitably be tempted or forced to travel greater distances at greater risk, perhaps in marginal weather, to set or pull their gear.
• A number of our commercial fishermen fish for rock lobster and abalone regularly in the Port Davey area and any restriction on their legitimate activities would have a very significant affect on their traditional fishing practices.
• We should not underestimate the responsibility accepted for maintaining the unique benefits in this area by commercial fishermen. Port Davey is part of their lifestyle, income and their future resulting in conscious protection of all marine species and even the removal of rubbish from the shoreline much of which is from overseas sources.
• The whole of Port Davey and the inshore coastline is regularly impacted by storms and large seas particularly from the north west, west and south west which has resulted in scouring of the seabed over probably tens of thousands of years and which has had a greater effect on the ecosystem than commercial fishing ever could.
• If Port Davey and the surrounds were to be created a marine reserve, who would visit the area to see what is not natural wilderness? How would they get there? What would they do? Commercial fishermen have been the enforcers of common sense fishing management practices in this area and they rarely see other persons in Port Davey.
• A no take restriction in this area could not possibly be policed without the majority support of the commercial fishing industry, which as we have already stated is not there, thereby reducing any effectiveness of such a restriction. Even an excessively expensive policing effort would only be marginally successful.
The Marine Police have previously advised that they do not have the resources to effectively enforce a marine reserve in this remote location so acceptance of any marine reserve by commercial fishermen is not just important it is absolutely vital to ensure that the defined area is protected.
Should any other proposed reserve areas be attractive to the Commission we support low impact abalone diving, rock lobster potting and limited scale fishing etc. being permitted to continue and if this was then agreed we would be very pleased to participate in further discussions in line with our previous initiatives in identifying MPAs.
Twofold Shelf bioregion
This area has also been considered previously by industry members and after careful consideration only one proposal is acceptable to our industry.
We believe our industry members would support a marine protected area in the Murray Passage between Erith, Dover and Deal Islands providing low impact abalone diving, rock lobster potting and scalefish fishing was permitted to continue. A map of our recommendation is attached for your interest.
The remoteness of this area is a major issue and many bays and inlets in the Kent Group are not visible from Deal Island even if an authorised person at that location was charged with protecting the area.
Historically poaching of marine resources and particularly abalone has been of major concern in this region and the creation of any no take marine reserve would establish a poacher's paradise with no economic enforcement of restrictions being possible.
The Kent Group is also used by commercial and recreational fishermen as a place of shelter during bad weather conditions and some fishing is undertaken during these times. To restrict this bad weather activity in any way would not be realistic or effective.
The stunted blacklip abalone fishery in this area has now been incorporated into the commercial abalone quota fishery and specific management arrangements are being developed to ensure the sustainability of sub legal size abalone in this area.
The Southern Shark fishery is also a valuable resource in the areas proposed and we do not support creating no take reserves in this area for no apparent gain or reason when realistic enforcement of such a marine reserve is not possible.
Both proposals
In developing further discussion papers we believe you should consider, detail and highlight the existing benefits to our State that derive from commercial fishing in these areas including the national and export revenue, royalties and jobs and detail any losses to the State if areas were to be closed to diving or fishing.
A full statement on the very real difficulties of enforcement of a marine reserve without commercial fishing industry support should be detailed and all information that is known, and an acknowledgement of the very little that is actually known, about the seabeds in any areas proposed should also be provided.
Summary
The commercial fishing industry are the long standing and traditional guardians of both these so called bioregions with very large financial investments in vessels, fishing gear and licences. We have not damaged or changed the benthic community with low impact activities despite over a hundred years of fishing - the weather and big seas have had the greatest affect by far and will continue to do so.
The Tasmanian Government is required to manage the State’s fisheries on a sustainable basis and we operate the rock lobster, abalone and scalefish fisheries under management plans to achieve just that. Any proposals for Port Davey and the Kent Group to reduce the fishing and diving areas available will undoubtedly put further pressure on the remaining available fishing regions in the State.
Both areas have been utilised over the last 100 years or more by whalers, sealers, hunters, miners, timber-getters, fishermen and recreational users and the areas are still remote and because of this these locations are protected from the effects of mankind and are likely to remain so for a very long time to come.
At a time when Tasmania is reporting continuous negative growth with a shrinking population and the largest state debt per person in the Commonwealth, it is not appropriate, or acceptable, to close up very valuable sections of the Tasmanian coastline and we therefore only support the proposals that I have detailed.
Because of the significance of these areas to commercial fishermen, if access to any valuable fishing area is restricted then full compensation for any displacement and the loss of income to be gained in the years ahead must be included for each diver, fishermen and quota holder who is adversely affected as part of each and every marine reserve proposal.
Yours faithfully,
R.K. LISTER
Chief Executive