GREENS RUNNING RUDD
Friday, 23 April 2010 03:35 | 
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Australians face a future without local seafood if the fishing industry continues to face closures like those now in train off the Fraser Island coast, Senator Ron Boswell said today.
Senator Boswell said “no-take” zones were a certainty in any marine reserve established in the 13,000 square kilometres off Fraser that has been declared an Area for Further Assessment in the Commonwealth’s marine planning process.
Vast areas of Queensland fisheries were also under threat from Bundaberg to the tip of Cape York in the 1 million square kilometre so-called Coral Sea Conservation Zone, as well as much of the Gulf of Carpentaria, as part of the same program.
“Queensland fishermen have already been through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park extension, the development of plans for the East Coast Trawl fishery, Northern prawn fishery, big cuts the GBR line fishery, and the so-called Securing our Fishing Future package, which also bought out effort,” Senator Boswell said.
“Over the past few years we’ve seen the number of trawlers operating on the east coast drop from around 1400 to 340.
“We’ve seen the fleet in the northern prawn fishery drop by one third in the space of three years and the number of boats operating in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery drop from more than 90 to less than 60.
“A few years ago the Coral Reef Fin Fishery was banned to all but those who had been active in the fishery as at 1997 and in 2008 there were just over 1800 tonnes of fish harvested when the allowable catch was over 3000 tonnes.
“Governments are killing our fisheries, and it has to stop.
“It’s supposedly all about the environment but the species now in the greatest danger is fishermen.
“We already import 60% of the seafood we eat. The way governments are going it won’t be long before no sector of the industry has the critical mass to continue, and we’ll be eating 100% imported product.”
Senator Boswell said the vast areas off the Queensland Coast under threat of more no-take areas were another example of the Rudd Government’s self-serving bid for Green electoral support.
