Terry Fuller
Posts: 2433
Joined: 5 June 2003
From: Hamersley, Western Australia
Status: offline
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Quotable quotes from the www.saveningaloo.org website. Read them all together plus stuff I haven't copied and look at the big picture and the inconsistencies and stretching the arguments and overstating of the case in the stories.....
There's still a lot of focus and arguments against the previously proposed resort and marina at Coral Bay, even though that's also had a "Geoff" done on it....
Which of these impacts is caused by recreational fishing? Where is the control of the other impacts in the increase of the sanctuary zones in the plan for the Ningaloo Marine Park?
"In near pristine condition, Ningaloo supports a staggering abundance of fish (500 species), corals (300 species), molluscs (600 species) and many other marine invertebrates. "
"..populations of large game fish including sailfish and marlin abound in the reef's waters. "
"These mammals, threatened by overexploitation and destruction of their Indo-Pacific habitat find a safe and healthy marine habitat at Ningaloo."
"With 80% of the world's coral reefs in serious decline due to human influence, the isolated Ningaloo Reef is of particular international importance. "
"The fish species in the Ningaloo reef area are incredibly varied and abundant, with about 500 species, this is because of the undisturbed, isolated state of Ningaloo."
"We've seen the gradual death to coral life on the Great Barrier reef," (see below) "well, Ningaloo reef is even closer and more accessible and thus far more vulnerable to human impacts. Despite the best intentions, corals will be affected by boating activities and mooring, and trampled by people reef walking.
Seagrass is vulnerable to changes in the water quality, such as increased turbidity and nutrient enrichment, and to damage from boat anchorage thus the seagrass beds are at risk of depletion."
"Hidden from view beneath the arid exterior of Cape Range peninsula lives an extraordinary collection of cave-dwelling and aquatic animals found nowhere else in the world.... " (that's on the land) "Ningaloo Reef is an essential part of the Cape Range 'karst' system - comprised of limestone caves and aquifers.
"It has been found that the density of turtles in Ningaloo Marine Park exceeds the highest densities of turtles that have ever been recorded in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area (Preen et al, 1997). This high density has partially been attributed to the particularly clear waters of the area (Preen et al, 1997)."
"The major threats that whales and dolphins will be susceptible to with the completion of the proposed Maud's Landing development will be collisions with boats, ingestion of litter, entanglement, and the pressures of more people wanting to see them. These are all wild creatures, therefore an increased people presence and the resulting noise may stop them from entering into Bateman Bay. This could have unforseen consequences on the mothers and calves that use Bateman Bay as a resting point in their long migration.
The increased number of boats in Bateman Bay will increase the likelihood of cetaceans being hit. It will also increase litter levels in the water, creating the potential for the mammals to ingest plastics, a possibly fatal action. Dolphins and whales are also very susceptible to entanglement in fishing lines and nets, which could also be fatal.
An increased number of tourists in the area will mean a greater number of commercial whale watching operators and tours. This has the potential to disturb the natural patterns of these creatures, and may cause them to avoid the area altogether.
Whales and dolphins are an important part of the ecosystem of the Ningaloo area. They add to the biodiversity of the system and enrich people's experiences. If they are driven out of the area, both nature and people will suffer a great loss."
From http://www.amcs.org.au/issues/ningaloo/ningaloo_status/ningaloo_status.htm - it's dated 2000
"Predictions were made in 1992 that in 10 to 20 years, another 30% of the worlds coral reefs could be added to the 10% that were effectively destroyed, if urgent management action was not implemented. While these figures appeared alarmist, recent events show that they may be conservative. In the early 1990s, there was little organised monitoring to observe reef decline and to determine the causal relationships.
Those dire predictions appeared extreme until the 1998 mass bleaching event struck; an event not anticipated in 1992. Many remote pristine reefs were devastated from shallow waters down to depths exceeding 30 metres. Hopefully these reefs are not destroyed and will recover if severe bleaching events do not become regular occurrences.
If predicted rates of greenhouse gas emissions continue and these are confirmed as the trigger for global warming, shifts in global climate like El Nino-La Nina phenomenon of 1997-98 will recur with increased severity and frequency. Coral reefs which are recovering, will be set back by recurring bouts of coral bleaching and mortality.
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) suffered massive bleaching, which was reported in 1998 as "only around 20%". This percentage is the equivalent of over 500 km of severely bleached reef!
The GBR is now daily loosing kilometres of corals by the Crown of Thorns explosion.
The GBR Lagoon, that bit of water between the East coast of Oz and the GBR, is very contaminated by: massive amounts of sediments from coastal mis-management; massive amounts of fertilizers from grazing lands and agriculture; large amounts of pesticides from agricultural run-off; massive amounts of nutrients and heavy metals from urban stormwater run-off; large amounts of heavy metals from industry effluent; massive amounts of sewage; etc. etc, ad nauseum.
The impacts of these are evidenced by:
the collapsing of fisheries (which were further helped by over-exploitation) off Qld & NSW;
Massive fish kills in many coastal rivers in the east coast;
prawns contaminated with Cooper; sharks contaminated with Mercury, among others, as reported in the 'State of the Marine Environment Report for Australia’, 1996, compiled by Leon Zann;
molluscs, fish and corals in the GBR were also found to have bio-accumulated high levels of cadmium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc, as per the same report (p.252).
dolphins contaminated with extremely high levels of pesticides in their blubber have also been reported off Moreton Bay, near Brisbane; etc."
Now, tick off which of these apply at Ningaloo, and then try to work out:- (if you can)
1. why Ningaloo needs a bigger area of no take zones than the Great Barrier Reef, (other than "mine's bigger than yours, give me the greenie points");
2. why the restrictions only apply to recreational anglers, and not to any other activity which will affect the reef, using the Save Ningaloo campaign's assessments of the threats....
TerryF
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There'll be more.....
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