Best way to celebrate whales is a sanctuary to protect them

BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE WHALES IS A SANCUTUARY TO PROTECT THEM
And To Prevent Exhaustion of Fish Stocks By Over-Fishing

The Tasmanian Greens today said, with whales returning to Tasmanian waters, a great way to celebrate these magnificent mammals is to show more respect for their marine habitat and by declaring Tasmanian waters a whale sanctuary.

Greens Environment spokesperson Cassy O’Connor MP said that, instead there’s a super trawler given licence to fish from Tasmania but no whale sanctuary and precious few marine protected areas.

“We are privileged to watch the spectacle of these humpback and southern right whales migrating past our shores, but to be impressed is not enough to save them from the range of threats they face, including over-fishing,” said Ms O’Connor.

“These magnificent mammals are endangered species, dependent on a healthy ocean and the international, national and state laws we have put in place to protect them.”

“An effective way to back up the wonder we feel seeing these animals bursting through the sea’s surface is to protect them by declaring Tasmanian waters a sanctuary – a move the Labor and Liberal parties blocked in Parliament earlier this year but a legal protection the Greens will continue to fight for.”

“Yesterday was World Oceans Day, and coincided with a UN report which declared fish stocks were seeing “an unprecedented decline” but that “marine protected areas have proven in many cases to be effective conservation tools, with recent surveys showing higher fish populations inside reserves than in surrounding areas and in the same areas before reserves were established”.

“We have a voracious predator, in the form of the Margiris super trawler heading for Tasmania fisheries but this isn’t being balanced with protections for our fish stocks or by fully protecting the last remaining whales.”

“The emphasis is still about taking, not giving in the form of balancing human needs with natural protections for the oceans upon which we rely.”

“The prospect of the oceanic vacuum cleaner, Magiris, hoovering the mackerel and red bait out of Australian waters is one very clear example of how we’ve got it so wrong.”

“We need to think about the future more clearly, responsibly and sustainably,” said Ms O’Connor.

Background:

The fifth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the eve of the UN Rio 20+20 Earth Summit ( http://www.earthsummit2012.org/about-us ) assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals and objectives and found that significant progress had only been made in four, and details the global “unprecedented deterioration in fish stocks”.

The report also details:

• That catch sizes “have stabilized or diminished since [the 1950s] despite increased fishing”;.

• “In 2000, catches could have been 7-36 per cent higher were it not for stock depletion. This translated into economic losses to the value of US $6.4 – 36 billion”;

• “Commercial fisheries and overfishing are the main threat to stocks. Fish products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council constituted only 7 per cent of global fisheries in 2007.

• Marine protected areas have proven in many cases to be effective conservation tools, with recent surveys showing higher fish populations inside reserves than in surrounding areas and in the same areas before reserves were established.

Separate recent academic research shows that unsustainable practices include the following:

“On the basis of recently released data on the Australian importation of fresh or frozen fish for the canned cat food industry, here we show that the estimated amount of raw fishery products directly utilized by the cat food industry equates to 2.48 million metric tonnes per year. This estimate, plus the previously reported global fishmeal consumption for the production of dry pet food suggest that 13.5% of the total 39.0 million tonnes of wild caught forage fish is used for purposes other than human food production.”

De Silva, S.S. and Turchini, G.M. (2008). Towards Understanding the Impacts of the Pet Food Industry on World Fish and Seafood Supplies. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics 21: 459–467.6