The Nationals Senator Ron Boswell said that the Labor government has declared a green war on fishing with their successful declaration of Coral Sea Conservation Zone. “With the vote tied at 31 to 31 on the disallowance, the motion was defeated meaning the proclamation of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone will stand,” Senator Boswell said. “The employees of the fishing, charter boat, marine and tourism industries should be shuddering in their boots over this decision,” Senator Boswell said. “This proclamation is a disgraceful abuse of power by the Minister for Environment who has unilaterally declared an area of nearly a million square kilometres of ocean as a conservation zone without any consultation with industry representatives at all.” “The Minister today has over-ridden the planning process put in place by the Howard Government to profile the entire Eastern Bio-region.” Speaking today on the motion Senator Boswell revealed there was no consultation with any industry stakeholder by either the Minister or his Department before the proclamation of the Coral Sea Conservation Zone on 19 May 2009. “A response by the Minister to a Question on Notice (2122) revealed that only two meetings were held by the Department prior to the proclamation, one with the Australian Conservation Foundation (19/03/09) and the other with Pew Charitable Trust (14/04/09) only a month before the proclamation.” “The Minister has disregarded the bioregional planning process and has basically just done whatever he liked.” “The fishing communities affected by this decision should rightly be suspicious about the motives of the Minister on this decision.” “The Coral Sea is a very low volume high value fishery with 10 million dollars fish taken in 2006.  The area is in pristine condition and has been for 200 years.” “Minister Garrett’s proclamation has made without any scientific evidence to identify the need for a separate conservation zone to the eastern marine bioregion.” “There has been no assessment done of the financial costs to regional communities or industry on this decision and there has been no estimate on the cost of enforcement of this new conservation zone.” Senator Boswell warned that by separating the area the Minister has carte blanche to zone it however he wants. Senator Boswell said that he was disappointed with the result because it furthers the dark green agenda of Minister Garrett. “The communities affected by this decision in the seats of Leichhardt, Kennedy, Herbert, Dawson and Hinkler should remember this day when they cast their vote at the ballot box.” ENDS