Australia's Deep South-east needs your protection

[Guest guest]

Australian Marine Conservation Society

 

Australia's Deep South-east needs your protection - Submissions Due 22nd December The waters off South-eastern Australia are home to a wonderful array of deep-sea corals, sponge gardens, underwater canyons and seamounts. This is the fragile home of Australia's 'old man' orange roughy, which can live up to 150 years, as well as deep sea oreos, gemfish and gulper sharks. Many species found in the South-east are found nowhere else in the world, YET they are under serious threat.Seabed trawling has devastated corals, sponge gardens, seamounts and vast areas of the continental shelf. Together with longline fishing and gillnets, trawling has caused overfishing and extensive habitat destruction. Offshore mining and oil and gas leases also blanket vast areas of the South-east, particularly in Bass Strait, and conservationists and marine scientists fear for the irreversible impacts these extractive activities are causing.The Australian Government has proposed a network of marine parks across the South-east which are supposed to safeguard the region from impacts. Unfortunately, the proposed parks fail to offer any real protection. Most of the parks, and virtually all of the high value no-take areas, are proposed over the very deep sea abyssal plain where there are few fishing or mining threats.This is not acceptable and it is time for us to act!http://www.customercommunity.com.au/communities/.asp?template_id=2881Please click here to send a letter with your personalised comments to Senator Ian Campbell, the Federal Minister responsible for establishing these parks. Submissions Due 22nd December. Four days to go.P.S. You don't have to enter the State/Province, so all can send letters! Thank you!