|
This peition is now closed. The Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, called for an independent review of the shark fishing proposals following the actions of conservationists that include this petition. The changes to shark fishing regulations were put on hold pending the results of the review. We have heard reports that the Minister will call for the new regulations to go forward with a lower catch limit of 600,000 tons per year. This is a positive development as it will represent sizable reduction below the current shark catch of over 900,000 tons. Naturally, we'd prefer a complete ban on shark fishing throughout the entire reef area. We will monitor the situation, and consider a new effort in the future if we think one is necessary.
To:
The Honorable Tony Burke,
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
The Honorable Martin Ferguson,
Minister for Tourism
The Honorable Peter Garrett,
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
The Honorable Tim Mulherin,
Queensland Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries
The Hon. Andrew McNamara,
Queensland Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation
The Hon. Desley Boyle
Queensland Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
We are shocked that the Queensland, Australia Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) is creating a dedicated shark fishery at a time when shark populations worldwide face unprecedented fishing pressure and many have been drastically reduced.
Although the DPI&F’s measures intend to bring sustainability to shark fishing, they appear to be driven by short-term financial gain. Instead, the establishment of shark fisheries will deplete shark populations and produce negative impacts to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. Short term economic interest of a small number of fishermen should not be placed above one of Australia's – and the world's - most precious resources: sharks and the Great Barrier Reef.
We strongly oppose:
- Licensed shark fishing in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Great Barrier Reef is a delicate ecosystem and one of the world’s most important marine protected areas. Shark fishing should be off-limits within the entire Great Barrier Reef area because sharks are critical to a healthy reef ecosystem.
- Creation of a dedicated shark fishing industry. There is no reason to believe that establishing new licenses for shark fishing will result in improved sustainability in the absence of meaningful restrictions.
- A non-enforceable catch 'trigger' of 700 tons of sharks. The 700 tons 'trigger' matches the current level of catch, does not reflect scientifically determined levels of sustainability, and is not a true 'ceiling'. Reaching the catch trigger will not stop further shark fishing, but merely triggers a 'review'. Serious restrictions are warranted, such as a firm catch limit and enforcement.
- Fishing for threatened or endangered shark species. Only 4 species are protected by this proposal while 28 Australian shark species are listed by the IUCN's Red List or Australia's EPBC as endangered or threatened. To allow fishing of 24 species that are nearing extinction is by definition unsustainable and irresponsible.
Strong protection of sharks is good for Australia
- Sharks will take decades to recover from a wrong bet on a 'catch trigger'. It is reckless to set a catch trigger at the current high level without evidence of sustainability. Sharks take years to recover from over-fishing because they mature and reproduce slowly.
- Depletion of sharks hurts other commercial and recreational fishing. Mounting evidence indicates that elimination of sharks produces dramatic and undesirable effects further down the food chain. For example, the mid-Atlantic region of the United States lost its scallop industry due to the over-fishing of sharks in that area (R.A. Meyers, et al, 2007).
- Australia should not be known as the country that allowed commercial interests to destroy the Great Barrier Reef. Countries with less economic means, such as Ecuador and Costa Rica, have banned fishing of all sharks in their marine reserves of Galapagos and Cocos, respectively. They understand that sharks are rapidly disappearing and the vital role that sharks play for the health of the reefs and its tourist industry (J. Bascompte, et al, 2005). Australia is widely recognized for its environmental stewardship and should not sanction a shark fishery in the Great Barrier Reef.
- Shark diving tourism: a live shark is worth more than a dead one. South African studies show that sharks attract divers from around the world who bring significant sustaining economic benefit. Each shark may be responsible for as much as USD 280,000 to the economy over its lifetime due to shark diving, but only $140 when fished. (L. Rochat, 2008; M.L. Dicken, et al, 2008; M. Hara, 2003). Depletion of sharks and disruption of the ecosystem threatens diving and eco-tourism, from which Australia benefits greatly.
- Protecting sharks will enhance Australia's environmental image. Australia should take the opportunity to stand for rescuing remaining shark populations by providing a safe refuge in the Great Barrier Reef. Enabling fisheries to cash in on the last remaining sharks is short-sighted and will result in lasting damage to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.
We join the growing number of people who are outraged by the continued exploitation of the Great Barrier Reef and its shark populations. At a time when many of the environmental challenges we face seem insurmountable, Australia can easily solve this problem. The world will be watching. We call upon the Australian government to take the lead and protect sharks so that one of the world's most treasured ecosystems and the species key to ocean health can continue to thrive.
The time to act is now, before Australia loses its shark population, jeopardizes its lucrative tourism industry, and forever tarnishes its stature is an environmental leader
We urge Australia to:
--ban ALL shark fishing immediately throughout the entire the Great Barrier Reef area
--establish sustainable catch limits elsewhere that are based on sound research
--vigorously enforce those policies.
References:
Please review the references so that you can take an informed position.
These first three entries are from the Queensland Government:
"In recent years, concerns have been raised over the sustainability of shark stocks, both nationally and internationally. Assessments of chondrichthyan stocks (sharks, rays and chimeras) have identified specific areas of concern. Within Australasian and Oceania waters, 10 of the 216 chondrichthyan species assessed are recognised as critically endangered or endangered, and a further 24 recognised as vulnerable. Stock collapses in Australia and overseas over the years have been well documented (Musick 2004). However, there have also been successful shark fisheries in Australia where research and management have been effective, for example, gummy sharks (Mustelus antarcticus) through appropriate regulation of mesh size in the gillnet fishery and dusky sharks (Carcharhinus obscurus) through limited catches of selected year classes. Fishery collapses not only bring economic hardship, but may result in adverse impacts on ecosystems. Sharks are top level predators and play an extremely important role in the ecosystem by regulating populations of prey species. The removal of top level predators can also have unexpected lower order effects on non-prey species."
The Queensland East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery Background paper: Sharks and rays, The State of Queensland, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries 2006
Have Your Say: Summary of proposed changes, Queensland, Australia DPI&F
Have Your Say: Regulatory Impact Statement and draft Public Benefit Test, Queensland, Australia DPI&F
This next one is a study of shark populations in the Great Barrier Reef conducted by Queensland-based scientists:
"Marine ecosystems are suffering severe depletion of apex predators worldwide; shark declines are principally due to conservative life-histories and fisheries overexploitation. On coral reefs, sharks are strongly interacting apex predators and play a key role in maintaining healthy reef ecosystems. Despite increasing fishing pressure, reef shark catches are rarely subject to specific limits, with management approaches typically depending upon no-take marine reserves to maintain populations. Here, we reveal that this approach is failing by documenting an ongoing collapse in two of the most abundant reef shark species on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia). We find an order of magnitude fewer sharks on fished reefs compared to no-entry management zones that encompass only 1% of reefs. No-take zones, which are more difficult to enforce than no-entry zones, offer almost no protection for shark populations. Population viability models of whitetip and gray reef sharks project ongoing steep declines in abundance of 7% and 17% per annum, respectively. These findings indicate that current management of no-take areas is inadequate for protecting reef sharks, even in one of the world's most-well-managed reef ecosystems. Further steps are urgently required for protecting this critical functional group from ecological extinction."
“The minimum change in mortality necessary to produce a median estimated population growth rate of 1.0 (i.e., population stability) was calculated for each species. Analyses indicate that reductions in annual mortality by one-third (36%) for the whitetip shark and one half (49%) for the gray reef shark would be required to halt these ongoing declines. However, with commercial catches of sharks nearly quadrupling on the Great Barrier Reef between 1994 and 2003, and recreational fishing also removing large numbers of sharks in Australia, the trend is strongly in the opposite direction.”
Robbins, W. D., Hisano, M., Connolly, S. R., and Choat, J. H. 2006. Ongoing collapse of coral-reef shark populations. Current Biology 16: 2314-2319
J. Bascompte, C. J. Melia, and E. Sala, Research Shows Overfishing of Sharks Key Factor in Coral Reef Decline, Scripps News April 11, 2005
"Impacts of chronic overfishing are evident in population depletions worldwide, yet indirect ecosystem effects induced by predator removal from oceanic food webs remain unpredictable. As abundances of all 11 great sharks that consume other elasmobranchs (rays, skates, and small sharks) fell over the past 35 years, 12 of 14 of these prey species increased in coastal northwest Atlantic ecosystems. Effects of this community restructuring have cascaded downward from the cownose ray, whose enhanced predation on its bay scallop prey was sufficient to terminate a century-long scallop fishery. Analogous top-down effects may be a predictable consequence of eliminating entire functional groups of predators."
Ransom A. Myers, Julia K. Baum, Travis D. Shepherd, Sean P. Powers, and Charles H. Peterson Science 30 March 2007 315: 1846-1850 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1138657], Cascading Effects of the Loss of Apex Predatory Sharks from a Coastal Ocean
IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Endangered and threatened Australian sharks: speartooth shark, freshwater sawfish, great whites, grey nurse sharks, dwarf sawfish, green sawfish, white spotted guitarfish, grey reef shark, white tip reef shark, great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, eastern angel shark, eastern longnose spurdog, Harrisson’s dogfish, leafscale gulper shark, longfin mako, eastern sawshark, bronze whaler, silky shark, spinner shark, spotted eagle ray, tiger shark, whale shark, whitecheek shark, milk shark, pigeye shark, spotted wobbegong, and banded wobbegong.
References on shark diving and tourism:
Economic value of a shark statistics, L. Rochat of AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (AOCA), based on interviews with South Africa’s Marine and Coastal Management and various shark researchers.
Recreational aspects of the tiger shark diving industry within the Aliwal Shoal Marine Protected Area, South Africa, M. L. DICKEN1 and S. G. HOSKING, pre-publication draft, 2008.
Marine-based Tourism in Gansbaai: A Socio-economic Study, M. Hara, I.Maharaj, L. Pithers, 2005. |
