written by:Save Ralphs Bay Inc.

The deadline for comments on the proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Bruny Bioregion is Wednesday 16th April.

You can send your comments and submissions to the Secretary, Department of Primary Industries and Water, GPO Box 44, Hobart, TAS 7001,

or email: Fishing.Enquiries@dpiw.tas.gov.au

or fax Recreational Fisheries Enquiries, Wild Fisheries Management Branch Fax: 03 6223 1539

The Final Recommendations Report of the “Inquiry into the establishment of marine protected areas in the Bruny Bioregion” was released by David Llewellyn, the Minister for Primary Industries and Water on March 17th.

The advertisement in the Mercury newspaper inviting public comment pre-empted the final decision on the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by saying: “the Government will not be agreeing to any recommendations that restrict or prevent traditional 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.”

If all the MPA’s in the Draft Recommendations Report had been declared, the Bruny Bioregion (one of Australia’s most biodiverse and ecologically significant) would still have been behind Victorian and NSW waters, in terms of the proportion of the marine environment protected.

However, following pressure from the state government and the Department of Premier and Cabinet in particular, the area recommended for protection in the Final Recommendations Report has been slashed by 69%. In other words, less than a third of the areas recommended in the Draft Report have made it to the final report. The state government is still to decide which of these will actually be declared as MPAs.

Only 1% of the Bruny Bioregion is being recommended for “no-take” MPA status in the Final Recommendations Report, but both the government and the Liberal Party have flatly rejected ANY no-take zones.

The Draft Recommendations Report proposed five MPAs around the South Arm peninsula, which encloses Ralphs Bay. Just two of these have made it into the Final Recommendations Report.

Please give your strong support for the creation of these two South Arm peninsula MPAs. The first of these, the proposed Opossum Bay MPA, runs just outside the waters of Ralphs Bay along the coastline of Opossum Bay and South Arm. Its stated purpose is the protection of the critically endangered Spotted Handfish, Brachionichthys hirsutus, which is internationally recognised as being in danger of becoming the world’s first extinct marine fish since scientific naming of species began.

We support the creation of the Opossum Bay MPA. 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.”

In the Final Recommendations Report the community has lost the Droughty Peninsula MPA, whose purpose was also to protect the Spotted Handfish. This proposed MPA extended inside Ralphs Bay around the Droughty Peninsula, and would have provided good protection for the Spotted Handfish known to live inside Ralphs Bay.

We support the creation of the South Arm Nature Reserve, an area of sand flat extending from the South Arm Neck in the southern section of Ralphs Bay. This will give important protection for shorebirds and the invertebrate communities on which they feed. Please give your support to the declaration of the South Arm Nature Reserve.

The Final Recommendations Report of the “Inquiry into the establishment of marine protected areas in the Bruny Bioregion” can be viewed at the RPDC website (together with the previous reports of the Inquiry) and the final Report is also on the DPIW website.

We thank you for taking the time to read this message. We encourage you to write to DPIW in support of MPAs in the Bruny Bioregion. Letters to the Editor, letters and calls to state politicians and talkback radio calls will also help.

Posted by GM on 03/31 at 12:43 AM
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State government contact pages:

• House of Assembly
• Legislative Council

Contact Walker Corporation to have your say on their proposal for Ralphs Bay.

• Walker Corporation contact page

Send a letter to the editor - be sure to include your name and location!

• The Mercury
• The Examiner
• The Sydney Morning Herald
• The Australian
• Business Review Weekly

Send an email, fax, or call Tim Cox at the ABC Tas morning show on 1300 222 936.