A Shocking Cut

Jane MacDonald Save Ralphs Bay Inc

“If all the Marine Protected Areas recommended in the Draft Report had gone ahead, this immensely biodiverse Tasmanian bioregion would still have been behind Victoria and NSW in terms of the proportion of the marine environment protected. However, the final area recommended for protection is now well under a third of the modest extent proposed just a few short months ago.”

MEDIA RELEASE

BRUNY BIOREGION MARINE PROTECTED AREAS SLASHED WHILE GOVT PLEDGES TO IGNORE RPDC
31 March 2008

“Save Ralphs Bay Inc is shocked to see that 69% of the Marine Protected Areas put forward in the Draft Recommendations Report of the Inquiry into the establishment of Marine Protected Areas in the Bruny Bioregion have been slashed in the Final Recommendations Report” said SRB Submissions Coordinator, Jane MacDonald.

Of the 5 areas around the South Arm Peninsula recommended for Marine Protected Area (MPA) status in the Draft Report, only 2 have made it through to the final recommendations.

The primary objective of the proposed Opossum Bay MPA is the protection of the Spotted Handfish, Brachionichthys hirsutus, which is in danger of becoming the world’s first marine fish to face extinction since the scientific naming of species began. The Opossum Bay MPA has the potential to give significant protection to the Spotted Handfish, since MPA status would entail consideration of, “the need to minimise impacts from land-based activities, such as stormwater and wastewater outfalls, habitat disturbance and coastal developments.” (RPDC Bruny Bioregion MPAs Final Recommendations Report, emphasis added)

“We were disappointed that the Droughty Peninsula MPA did not make it into the final recommendations,” Ms. MacDonald said. “This MPA would have offered protection to Spotted Handfish known to live inside Ralphs Bay.”

Save Ralphs Bay Inc welcomes the proposal to give Nature Reserve status to the South Arm MPA, an area of sandflat to the north of the South Arm Neck.
This MPA is designed to protect critical shorebird habitat.

The Ralphs Bay Conservation Area at Lauderdale met the identification criteria for MPA’s as stated in the Interim Report of the Inquiry.
However, in August 2007, Minister Steve Kons directed that this area be removed from consideration by the Inquiry, as it is the site of the Walker Corporation’s proposed 500 home canal estate and marina development on the sandflats of Ralphs Bay. Hence the South Arm MPA is now the sole remaining area of Ralphs Bay sandflat put forward for protection.

Save Ralphs Bay Inc considers that the RPDC has shaved the proposed MPAs in the Bruny Bioregion down to the barest minimum, and notes the Commission’s statements in the Final Report that, “if any of these areas are not declared then the Strategy’s primary goal to establish a comprehensive and representative system would not be met. If the size or level of protection for any of these recommended areas is reduced, then the primary goal to achieve an adequate system would not be met,” and, “The resulting fourteen recommended areas is as lean a system of MPAs as the Commission could determine whilst still complying with the terms of reference and the (Tasmanian Marine Protected Areas) Strategy.”

Save Ralphs Bay Inc fully supports the RPDC’s statement in the Final Recommendations Report that, “This unique system of MPAs was not recommended just to help ecological sustainability and protect biodiversity.

It was also recommended as a potential asset to the well-being of Tasmanian society: providing for the aesthetic, recreation, tourism and knowledge building needs of our community and our visitors. The system of MPAs fulfils our obligations for protecting our marine natural heritage and provides opportunities and benefits for future generations.”

However, the Tasmanian Government has already pre-empted any final decision on the RPDC recommendations by saying, “the Government will not be agreeing to any recommendations that restrict or prevent traditional fishing activities of recreational or commercial fishers.” This flies in the face of the primary goal of the Tasmanian Marine Protected Areas Strategy (2001) which is, “to establish and manage a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine protected areas, to contribute to the long-term ecological viability of marine and estuarine systems, to maintain ecological processes and systems, and to protect Tasmania’s biological diversity.”