Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak this evening about the Australian giant cuttlefish and the environmental health of South Australia's Upper Spencer Gulf. Discussions about Australia's marine environment often tend to focus on spectacular attractions, notably the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef or the annual migration of humpback whales along our eastern and western seaboards. However, with more than 34,000 kilometres of coastline, small offshore islands and more than a thousand estuaries, our coastal and marine environment is truly vast.

But all too often the sea the taken for granted. It is a sad fact that the marine environment is treated as being of secondary importance relative to other priorities: big energy and resource extraction projects, industrial-scale commercial fishing, port infrastructure development, and other coastal land development and usage. I've previously expressed strong concern about threats posed by petroleum and gas exploration and development to the environment of the Great Australian Bight. Tonight, however, I want to focus on an area of our marine environment that to me, personally, is quite special—South Australia's Upper Spencer Gulf.

I grew up in Whyalla, and the beaches and bays of the gulf are well known to me. The upper gulf's marine park protects some of the most important fish nurseries in South Australia, including significant mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and areas where whiting, squid and snapper gather to spawn. Dolphins congregate in the upper gulf to feed and breed. Arguably, the giant Australian cuttlefish is an iconic species in the region. It is the world's largest cuttlefish species. It grows to some 50 centimetres in body length and over 10.5 kilograms in weight. Owing to diminishing numbers, the giant Australian cuttlefish is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list as a vulnerable species. A striking feature of the cuttlefish is its ability to put on a spectacular display of changing colour in an instant. Each winter, through May to August, many thousands swarm into the rocky areas off the Whyalla coast, especially around Point Lowly and Fitzgerald Bay, to mate and lay their eggs. It is the only known location that this mass gathering happens in the world. It's a unique annual event and something that in recent years has become a significant tourist attraction, with Whyalla's annual Cuttlefest celebration. It's a remarkable phenomenon that is now under threat.

At the end of last month, a controversial fish-farming scheme to produce yellowtail kingfish in Fitzgerald Bay moved forward following a decision of the Whyalla council. On 31 May, the council granted the Clean Seas company access to Point Lowly Marina—a decision which will enable them to establish a 4,245-tonne capacity fish farm in Fitzgerald Bay under existing leases granted by the South Australian state government. Clean Seas is already the largest farmer of yellowtail kingfish outside Japan. It has a hatchery at Arno Bay and fish farms at Port Lincoln, both on the Eyre Peninsula. The new site, which is planned to be stocked with kingfish as early as September, will further increase the company's production capacity. Clean Seas previously farmed fish in the upper gulf, and many locals have strongly opposed the plan due to fears that waste from the farm could cause nitrogen blooms and impact on the giant Australian cuttlefish population. More than 600 locals have put their names to a petition against giving Clean Seas access to the marina. A key factor underlying the concerns is the very slow rate at which the waters of the gulf flush into the Southern Ocean. Nick Antonio, a Whyalla resident and campaigner against the kingfish farm, has highlighted Clean Seas' previous failed aquaculture venture in the upper gulf, saying:

"We experienced nitrogen plumes on the bottom of the ocean bed, and we also had a lot of washed up pens and debris, damage to the marina … last time was just a complete and utter failure for Clean Seas …

"I cannot [understand] how they can be licensed to farm 4,245 tonnes of fish in a gulf that [is only flushed out] every 18 months," …

Since the Whyalla council decision, the Conservation Council of South Australia has issued a report that expresses grave concerns about the kingfish aquaculture expansion in Fitzgerald Bay. The Conservation Council argues that the sheer mass of nutrients that will be generated is at a sufficient level to destroy seagrasses, which is something that occurred with nutrient discharges off the Adelaide coastline. The Conservation Council warns that the current SA Water quality guidelines are inadequate and outdated, and a process to replace them with more stringent trigger values is still incomplete. Northern Spencer Gulf ecosystems, as assessed by the South Australian Environmental Protection Authority, are in decline and should be managed for recovery, not further compromised by large-scale aquaculture projects. Significantly, previous decline and recovery of the giant cuttlefish coincided with the arrival and departure of kingfish aquaculture, taking into account a two-year lag from the cuttlefish life cycle and gulf flushing times.

The Conservation Council has warned that information provided to dispel concerns about the risks to cuttlefish population from aquaculture is 'incomplete, unreliable or misrepresented'. Significantly, the risk assessment that supported the South Australian approval of the project excluded many stakeholders and remains secret. It relied on modelling that, at the time, was not made available for independent scrutiny. The Conservation Council concludes that the kingfish aquaculture expansion will likely result in unacceptable levels of nutrients and damage to an ecosystem that's already stressed. The giant cuttlefish population is likely at risk and a further assessment is urgently required with reference to updated water-quality guidelines. There's also an unquestionable need for greater transparency and the opportunity for concerned stakeholders to provide input before the project proceeds.

In considering how we got to this situation, I don't blame the Whyalla council. The council had little choice because the council only leases the local marina from the state government. Minister Corey Wingard told the council that if it couldn't come to a working agreement to allow Clean Seas access to the marina that the government would take back control of the marina. In those circumstances, the council took the view that it was best to give conditional approval and to seek to impose a set of conditions and monitoring arrangements that would hopefully enable effective scrutiny of the environmental impacts, especially on the vulnerable cuttlefish population. So there you have it: Minister Wingard ignoring the will of the local community at Whyalla—basically, a minister bullying the council. I will just warn him: the people of Whyalla don't forget.

Meanwhile, it's highly likely that the damage that will be done will be done long before the monitoring provides a clear picture and a remedial plan can be implemented. The fact is that the South Australian government allowed the project to proceed. Indeed, it actively supported it and encouraged it, with completely inadequate considerations of the environmental impacts. The processes of environmental assessment and approval were insufficiently rigorous, lacked adequate consultation with relevant experts and stakeholders and lacked transparency. Opaque and closed decision-making processes often favour vested interests and rarely serve the common good.

When it comes to protection of fragile ecosystems, for state governments 'out of sight' means 'out of mind'. The South Australian Minister for Tourism and the Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall, need to think seriously about this decision and how it will negatively impact the tourism brought in by the CuttleFest. We're about to think about devolving responsibility to the state governments in relation to environmental approvals, and this sort of process shows those here exactly why my starting point in respect of that legislation is a big no.

Meanwhile, however, state governments, such as South Australia's administration, should be subject to much, much closer scrutiny as they are clearly failing to discharge their environmental responsibilities properly. In the first instance, the so-called Clean Seas project in the Upper Spencer Gulf should be put on hold pending a new and independent environmental review via a transparent process and involving all stakeholders and relevant experts. In getting these matters right, I hope it will not be too late to protect the unique ecosystem of the Upper Spencer Gulf and its remarkable inhabitants. Thank you.