Grey Nurse Sharks still caught in politics

This is an article in the Maclea Argus reflecting the current political battle between commercial & recreational fishermen and environmental protection groups such as the Nature Conservation Council. Let's hope the grey nurses are still there, when the politicking is over.

THE Nature Conservation Council (NCC) has hit out at the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and the State Government after it was decided not to apply an enlarged exclusion zone around Fish Rock to recreational fishers .

The DPI announced last week that the greater protection restrictions at the grey nurse shark habitat would be placed on commercial line-fishers only.

The extended no-go zone for commercial boats is due to come into force next May.

However, the new restrictions will not apply to recreational fishers, who will remain free to use rod and line up to the limit of the current, smaller exclusion zone.

While the announcement has been castigated by the NCC, it has been welcomed by the recreational fishing group, ECOfishers.

“The minister’s decision is a timely Christ-mas present for local family fishers and the community,” the director of ECOfishers on the Mid North Coast, Maurie Britten, said.

“It is based upon science and our current knowledge of the biology, migration patterns and life cycle of the grey nurse shark.”

Mr Britten said the existing fishing exclusion zones were “more than adequate, in some cases excessive” for the grey nurse shark – a large but unaggressive species.

“Sharks use 100 per cent of our oceans, fishers use much less than one per cent,” Mr Britten said.

But the NCC, which lost a court battle earlier this year to have fishing exclusion zones placed around 18 sites in New South Wales waters where grey nurse sharks have been found, has hit back at both the DPI and recreational fishers.

“The DPI decision means that they are not doing enough to prevent the grey nurse shark from going extinct,” Giselle Firme, marine and fisheries conservation officer with the NCC, said.

“The closures are not only limited in scope, but they are only relevant to commercial fishing, when recreational fishers continue to be able to fish on critical habitats and pose a threat to grey nurse sharks.”

ECOfishers, which claims the information supplied by the NCC to back its claims that the shark was in danger of extinction was unsubstantiated and incorrect, said its own negotiations with the DPI were “based upon science and reality, not green myths or anecdotal evidence”.

“A recent decision by in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal confirmed the east coast population of grey nurse sharks is most likely to be somewhere between 500 and 1,500,” said Mr Britten.

“However, it might be more; one expert witness estimated at least 3000.”

Mr Britten added that the tribunal decision made “a mockery of the fewer than 500 touted by extreme government-funded preservationists.”

But the NCC insists the information it supplied to the tribunal was factual and relevant, and the species would soon be wiped out if the NCC suggested exclusion zones were not applied, .

“It is important to point out that the 1500m marine sanctuaries, or no-take zones that the NCC is defending are not green myths, anedoctal evidence or even the opinion of the NCC, but the recommendation of the top scientific body in the country, the CSIRO, in a 2003 review to prevent extinction of the species in NSW,” Ms Firme said.

“Marine Sanctuaries in key habitat grey nurse shark areas were also the recommendation of the State DPI’s expert on the species, Dr Nicholas Otway.”

Ms Firme said the extinction of a species had a detrimental effect on all the plants and animals that interacted with it.

“It (the extinction of the grey nurse shark) will be a great loss of biodiversity and a shameful legacy for Australia to carry,” said the conservation officer.

More at:

http://kempsey.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/sharks-caught-in-tangle-of-claims/1093353.html

Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2007-11-28