The Greens want all forms of fishing banned across at least 30% of the vast network of marine reserves now being planned around Australia by Labor’s Environment Minister Peter Garrett, and will likely get their wish if they win control of the Senate.

Senator Boswell said carefully placed closures on this scale would almost certainly put most, if not all, of Australia’s fishing fleet, massively diminished over the past decade by closures and new management regimes, out of business - as well as having huge impacts on recreational fishing.

The Gillard government is considering closures in 27 areas right around the Australian coastline out to the edge of the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and wants a network of Marine Protected Areas covering 41 distinct bioregions.

Article 20 of The Greens Marine and Coastal Areas policy states that the party will “ensure that the National Representative System of  Marine Protected Areas program has legislated targets of a minimum of 30% ‘no-take’ areas per bioregion by 2012.”

The Greens are widely tipped to hold the balance of power in the Senate after the August 21 election because of a backlash against the ALP from the left.

Senator Boswell said there was already ample evidence that Minister Garrett, a former president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, and an ex rock star, was prepared to do the bidding of the Greens at virtually every and any turn.

He said Minister Garrett had abused the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by declaring one million square kilometres of the Coral Sea a conservation zone after discussions with only the U.S. based green organisation the PEW Foundation, and the Australian Conservation Foundation. No other stakeholder was consulted.

Senator Boswell said the declaration, using the emergency interim protection measures of the Act, has not been and cannot be justified by the Minister.  All existing uses were allowed to continue and no longer-term threat had ever been nominated by the Minister.

Use of the Act to declare such an interim protection regime requires identification of a threat sufficient to justify it.  The sole specific threat Minister Garrett has identified is ocean acidification, which is outside the reach of a long term let alone interim protection measure.

“Minister Garrett has shown himself so prepared to accommodate the Greens to get their preferences and protect his party from them, that he would probably not even bother putting forward closures that are of less than 30%,” Senator Boswell said.

“He would probably save his party the trouble, if Labor wins the election and the Greens win the balance of power in the Senate, and legislate for 30% plus no-take zones from the beginning.”

ENDS