MEDIA RELEASE
13 December 2004
Marine Park Process Drowning
Parliamentary Inquiry to hear evidence of chronic delays
Three of South Australia s key conservation groups will today present evidence to a parliamentary inquiry calling for the parliament to act quickly to create a system of Marine National Parks.
The Conservation Council of SA, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and The Wilderness Society will tell the parliaments Environment, Resources and Development Committee that South Australia is lagging behind other states and the targets set for the roll out of marine protected areas are unsatisfactory.
The environment groups criticism comes just two weeks after Minister Hill launched the governments vision for marine protected areas.
Mr Hill has the legislative ability to proclaim all nineteen promised Marine Protected Areas immediately under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, but instead the Government has stalled the process in order to develop new legislation prior to the MPA roll out said Catherine Way , Campaign Coordinator of CCSA.
As our ecosystems in the oceans continue to be degraded and with many species under threat, there is a need to have protection put in place as a matter of urgency.
Campaigner for The Wilderness Society, Dr Greg Ogle, said
There appears to have been no movement on 8 marine wilderness areas which were nominated for protection in 1998, and the timetable for the roll out of marine protected areas generally has been put back several times in the last decade. All that is needed is a modest allocation of resources and the political will to get it moving.
Michelle Grady from WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said
Marine parks will be a key protection measure for SAs marine icons, including endangered species like the mighty Blue Whale, the awesome Great White Shark, and the states marine emblem, the Leafy Sea Dragon. We need protection now for these species and the many other species in our southern seas of which 85% are found nowhere else in the world. This is a sobering international responsibility
The groups appear before the ERD Committee at 10am in the Old Parliament House.
For further information, contact
Greg Ogle (TWS) 0409 096 519
Michelle Grady (WDCS) 0423 760 695
Catherine Way (CCSA) 0411 028 930
