<
https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/new-great-sandy-marine-park-plan-is-a-win-for-conservation-tourism-recreational-fishing/>
"Conservation, tourism and recreational fishers have today welcomed the
Queensland Government’s new Great Sandy Marine Park zoning plan.
The Queensland Government has significantly increased the area covered by fully
protected marine sanctuaries in the Great Sandy Marine Park, providing better
protection for the Fraser Coast’s unique marine life, including dugongs,
turtles, grey nurse sharks and the Australian humpback dolphin. These changes
will also greatly assist local fish stocks to recover.
The new zoning plan, released today, also removes destructive gillnet fishing
from Conservation Park (yellow) zones, including waters throughout the Great
Sandy Strait, creating a new gillnet-free area greater than 60,000 hectares –
equivalent to more than 70,000 football fields.
The Great Sandy Marine Park, which includes K’gari and Hervey Bay, is a natural
treasure, boasting the state’s largest urban dugong population and huge fish
diversity. Established in 2006, the Great Sandy Marine Park zoning plan was
well overdue for renewal as our understanding of the outstanding values and
growing threats to the area have changed markedly.
AMCS Marine Parks Campaigner James Sherwood said: “The new Great Sandy Marine
Park zoning plan will improve protection of threatened species such as dugongs,
turtles, grey nurse sharks and the Australian humpback dolphin.
“Back-to-back flooding events have decimated seagrass meadows in the Great
Sandy Marine Park which is the primary food source for dugong and turtles. The
expansion of fully protected areas will protect additional seagrass habitat
that they rely on.
“The increase in fully protected areas is also welcome news for the region
which will help to better protect biodiversity and rebuild fish populations in
the marine park”."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-trachoma-human-rights-mexico-river-madrid-spain/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
