Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, upon notice, on 28 April 2011:

(1) Has there been any increase in the number of New Zealand fishing boats licensed to fish for Patagonian toothfish in the Ross Sea; if so, how has Australia responded to the increase.

(2) What actions have been taken in response to the call from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to make Ross Sea a marine protected area.

(3) What is the Minister's response to recent research suggesting that commercial fishing in the Ross Sea has led to an explosion in Adélie penguin numbers and decline in killer whale and Weddell seal numbers.

(4) What is Australia's position on commercial fishing in the Ross Sea if it were to become a protected marine park.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) No. There has been no increase in the number of New Zealand vessels fishing in the Ross Sea exploratory toothfish fisheries.

(2) The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources (CCAMLR) has not itself called for the Ross Sea to be declared a marine protected area. To date there has been no formal proposal put forward to CCAMLR, by any Member of the Commission, to designate the Ross Sea as a marine protected area.

The Commission has endorsed the World Summit on Sustainable Development target for a representative system of marine protected areas by 2012. The Commission has been working steadily towards achieving this goal with the first CCAMLR MPA declared in 2009 near the South Orkney Islands.

(3) I am aware of media reports of the research you refer to in your question.

CCAMLR's Scientific Committee provides scientific advice to the Commission on the management of the marine living resources of the CCAMLR Convention Area. The principles of the Convention on the Conservation of Marine Living Resources are based on the precautionary approach and seek to conserve Antarctic marine living resources and the integrity of the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Australia is committed to CCAMLR and contributes scientific expertise to the Scientific Committee. Australia actively works with members of the Commission to adopt measures to further the conservation objective of the Convention.

(4) Consistent with Australia's position on domestic marine protected areas, Australia considers that marine protected areas in the CCAMLR Area can include multiple use areas in which 'no take zones' and commercial activities, including fishing, can occur in an ecologically sustainable manner.

The principles of CCAMLR are based on the precautionary approach and seek to conserve Antarctic marine living resources and the integrity of the Southern Ocean ecosystem. The CCAMLR principles also serve to protect the long term viability of the marine living resources and commercial interests of fisheries in the Convention Area.