The fiction of sustainable Australian Fisheries

The Australian Sea Lion faces extinction in the face of continued mortality as a by-catch from commercial fisheries and government inaction.

With only around 11,000 individuals left in the wild the ongoing mortality of this species, estimated to exceed 2% per year from fishing related causes alone, puts the species in danger of extinction within a few decades.

Recent proposals for Commonwealth Marine Parks have failed to provide an adequate level of protection and the situation is made more dire as South Australian Marine Parks face being closed down by fishers before they have even started.

To read more about the fate of this species and the failure of Government to provide a meaningful level of protection follow this link.

Six out of 10 WA fishers support marine sanctuary zones

WA Research Findings:

• Six out of 10 people who frequently fish (fished more than 12 times in the past year) support protecting at least 30 per cent of the waters of WA’s coast in marine sanctuaries.
• 63 per cent of West Australians believe that marine life in WA’s waters is in decline.
• Eight out of 10 West Australians would like the state and federal governments to work together to establish marine sanctuaries off the WA coast.
• 67 per cent of people support protecting at least 30 per cent of waters directly off the coast from Perth, such as the Perth Canyon, in a marine sanctuary.

Read more - from CCWA