FWD: Australia's Great Barrier Reef fishing ban to take effect July 1

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Thursday, March 25, 2004

Australia's Great Barrier Reef fishing ban to take effect July 1

 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - A fishing ban that comes into force July 1 over

one-third of Australia's Great Barrier Reef will make it the world's best

protected marine environment, the government said Thursday.

 

" It is a quite remarkable advance in protecting the reef against all the

pressures to which it's subject,'' Environment Minister David Kemp said.

 

" This is going to mean more fish on the Barrier Reef, healthier corals; it's

going to mean bigger fish for tourists to come and see,'' he said.

 

Under the new regime, the area of the World Heritage-listed chain of coral reefs

where fishing is banned rises from 4.5 percent to 33.3 percent.

 

The government proposed the fishing ban be extended from 16,000 square

kilometers to 114,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles to 44,000 square

miles) late last year.

 

Lawmakers in Canberra had a deadline of Wednesday night to raise objections;

when they didn't, the fishing ban became a certainty.

 

Kemp conceded it would hit both commercial fishers and charters taking tourists

onto the reef in search of species like blue marlin, and said the government

would compensate them.

 

" We haven't specified any particular sum of money, but we intend that this shall

be dealt with in a very fair way,'' he told reporters in Canberra.

 

But Kemp said despite the short term pain, there would be long term gain for the

4.5 billion Australian dollar (US$3.4 billion) tourism industry.

 

The value of tourism far outweighs that of the commercial fishing industry,

which is worth 150 million Australian dollars (US$110 million) a year, and

allows tourists to see colorful coral.

 

A profusion of fish is key to the area's continuing popularity.

 

The commercial fishing industry had battled the rezoning proposal for the past

four years.

 

Kemp said the offshore shrimp trawling industry would not suffer greatly because

the so-called high protection green zones, where fishing is totally outlawed,

had been mapped to avoid the most popular trawling grounds, he said.

 

But shrimp trawling closer to the shore, as well as people fishing with nets and

those hunting for crabs would suffer, he said.

 

The government will establish an independent panel that will begin compensation

discussions in May with communities along the coast of the northeast state of

Queensland, from where the reef extends into the Coral Sea.

 

Environmental groups have welcomed the new protection, but urged the government

to properly police the new zones to ensure fishing vessels do not encroach into

protected areas.

 

Although the reef has been hit by overfishing, it also is threatened by rising

sea temperatures that cause coral bleaching _ where the vibrant colors are

drained from coral. Runoff of soil and minerals washed down rivers from farms

near the coast of northeastern Australia also is smothering some areas of the

reef.

 

 

 

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