Media report confirms that the commercial fishing sector has rejected a federal proposal for marine reserves across 2.4 million hectares of eastern Australian waters. The report states that the opposition is not just from one side but from the fishing sector on the far southern end of the proposed reserve system, that runs from tropical Torres Strait to cool waters south of Sydney.
Commercial fisher Garry Braithwaite said that a 70 percent loss of the waters still accessible to the Bermagui fishing co-op’s few commercial operators. He further said that a federal reserve further erodes the viability of fishing, after state marine parks and federal fisheries buy-outs saw Bermagui co-op’s trap and line fishing waters halved, with four remaining boats.
According to him the area Bermagui fishermen lost, especially in their fishery, that have a school (fish) and gummy (shark) endorsement that used to run from Moruya to the Victorian border, now we have lost 50 per cent of our area. Now the federal marine reserve proposal becomes an election issue for the marginal seat of Eden Monaro on the NSW south coast. Labor Member Mike Kelly says he’ll be consulting the community on changes to marine management.
