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David Attenborough's message in Parliament House
The event was co-hosted by Environment Tasmania, Independent MP Craig Garland’s office, Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), Minderoo Pictures, Surfers for Climate and Eaglehawk Dive Centre, and featured some inspiring speakers who champion Tasmania’s coastal waters.
Rebecca Howarth, Senior Marine Campaigner, Environment Tasmania
“In Tasmania, less than 3% of our state's coastal waters have any level of protection, and only 1.1% are highly protected in marine sanctuaries.”
“I've been working on Environment Tasmania’s Healthy Oceans campaigns for about three years now, and we've been talking quite a lot out in the community about the opportunities that we may have for legislative reform or policy pieces, or protecting habitats. And I have heard out in the coastal communities again and again from fishers, surfers, divers, swimmers, dope workers, how much they'd like to see areas of our coastline protected.”
Associate Professor Neville Barrett, Marine Ecologist
“Our first marine parks were established in late 1991. So we've been monitoring these marine parks, Governor Island, Maria Island, Bicheno, Tinderbox and Ninepin Point since 1992, so it's like 33 years, a long time now. And we've seen some tremendous benefits, and we've had some great learnings. Not only to help us manage the biodiversity side of things, but also to help us manage our fisheries in a much more sustainable way.”
"The only way we can protect them in the future is actually having a range of marine protected areas along our coast."
Tim Cunningham, former commercial fisher, eco-tourism skipper and recreational fisher
“I've seen the change through my lifetime, the decline in fish stocks, the amount of fish, but also the types of species that we see.”
“If we don't do something about it (...) I think that we're going to be at a massive loss and I think we're going to look back on it and be wishing we've done something sooner.”
“My children might want to go fishing, become commercial fishermen or work in tourism, but if we don't have a healthy ecosystem or a healthy ocean, neither of those things are going to be options. So I think that we owe it to the generations to come to do something about what's happening, and I think one of those things would be to increase the marine parks we have.”
Josh Kirkman, CEO, Surfers for Climate
“Protecting stuff before a catastrophe like an algal bloom happens, is got to be a good thing because if the place is looked after and we've got those spillover effects, the devastation may well be managed better.“
Karen-Gowlett Holmes, Marine Ecologist and co-owner of Eaglehawk Dive Centre
“I have found in Waterfall Bay well over 200 unidentified species of invertebrates. Some of those have been worked on and described by other researchers. And believe me, that is just scratching the surface. We're still discovering new species there. Unfortunately, we're at a situation where if it continues the way it is now and we don't try to protect these areas, these animals disappear before we even know that they're there.”
Craig Garland, former commercial fisher and member of Tasmanian parliament
“As a state, and as a benchmark for the rest of the planet, we should be aiming to be the best managed inshore fisheries on the planet. And we can do that. We've got the bipartisan support here. We've got the people in all the departments, they've got all the information at hand. And if we all work together, I believe that is a way to go forward.”
Kuno
The event was co-hosted by Environment Tasmania, Independent MP Craig Garland’s office, Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), Minderoo Pictures, Surfers for Climate and Eaglehawk Dive Centre, and featured some inspiring speakers who champion Tasmania’s coastal waters.
Rebecca Howarth, Senior Marine Campaigner, Environment Tasmania
“In Tasmania, less than 3% of our state's coastal waters have any level of protection, and only 1.1% are highly protected in marine sanctuaries.”
“I've been working on Environment Tasmania’s Healthy Oceans campaigns for about three years now, and we've been talking quite a lot out in the community about the opportunities that we may have for legislative reform or policy pieces, or protecting habitats. And I have heard out in the coastal communities again and again from fishers, surfers, divers, swimmers, dope workers, how much they'd like to see areas of our coastline protected.”
Associate Professor Neville Barrett, Marine Ecologist
“Our first marine parks were established in late 1991. So we've been monitoring these marine parks, Governor Island, Maria Island, Bicheno, Tinderbox and Ninepin Point since 1992, so it's like 33 years, a long time now. And we've seen some tremendous benefits, and we've had some great learnings. Not only to help us manage the biodiversity side of things, but also to help us manage our fisheries in a much more sustainable way.”
"The only way we can protect them in the future is actually having a range of marine protected areas along our coast."
Tim Cunningham, former commercial fisher, eco-tourism skipper and recreational fisher
“I've seen the change through my lifetime, the decline in fish stocks, the amount of fish, but also the types of species that we see.”
“If we don't do something about it (...) I think that we're going to be at a massive loss and I think we're going to look back on it and be wishing we've done something sooner.”
“My children might want to go fishing, become commercial fishermen or work in tourism, but if we don't have a healthy ecosystem or a healthy ocean, neither of those things are going to be options. So I think that we owe it to the generations to come to do something about what's happening, and I think one of those things would be to increase the marine parks we have.”
Josh Kirkman, CEO, Surfers for Climate
“Protecting stuff before a catastrophe like an algal bloom happens, is got to be a good thing because if the place is looked after and we've got those spillover effects, the devastation may well be managed better.“
Karen-Gowlett Holmes, Marine Ecologist and co-owner of Eaglehawk Dive Centre
“I have found in Waterfall Bay well over 200 unidentified species of invertebrates. Some of those have been worked on and described by other researchers. And believe me, that is just scratching the surface. We're still discovering new species there. Unfortunately, we're at a situation where if it continues the way it is now and we don't try to protect these areas, these animals disappear before we even know that they're there.”
Craig Garland, former commercial fisher and member of Tasmanian parliament
“As a state, and as a benchmark for the rest of the planet, we should be aiming to be the best managed inshore fisheries on the planet. And we can do that. We've got the bipartisan support here. We've got the people in all the departments, they've got all the information at hand. And if we all work together, I believe that is a way to go forward.”
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