8/7/2019 110304 VAGO Report Shows Way Forward Foer Marine Parks (2)

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VAGO Report Shows the Way Forward for

Marine Parks DATE: 4 March 2011

VRFish – The Victorian Recreational Fishing Peak Body, representing the Victorian RecreationalFishing Community, welcomes the report into Marine Parks in Victoria released by the VictorianAuditor-General’s Office (VAGO) this week.

The report clearly shows that Marine Parks and their managers have totally failed to achieve thebenefits to the marine environment claimed. However the problem should not be entirely lumped onthe managers of a system that, in reality, cannot be effectively managed.

The ideals surrounding marine protected areas just do not work and should be abandoned in favour ofa broader and much more effective system of management that extends from the catchment to thecoast.

As highlighted in VAGO report; the marine environment has no tangible boundaries between protectedareas and the other marine areas indicating the ideals behind pockets of “marine protection”  is verylimited and cannot ever be truly effective.

The VAGO report went on to say “ the most effective way to manage environmental threats is through 

integrated policy and planning that considers the whole marine environment and involves the key stakeholders involved in its management”  

The call, in the lead up to the Victorian state election of 2010, from environmental groups to increasethe area of the state’s marine environment to be locked-up, cited research from the various stategovernment agencies to justify their claim. The report from the VAGO must certainly bring intoquestion the validity of this research and hence justifies VRFish’s stance to have the plan for extendedmarine lock-outs squashed.

VRFish call on the Victorian State Government to work with all stake-holders to develop a moreholistic approach to the environmental management of our marine areas that would ultimately replacethe piecemeal system of Marine Protected Areas that are ineffective and only serve to divide thecommunity.

The government and the people of Victoria have been provided with evidence to suggest a bettersystem of marine environmental management is needed, so now might be the time to investigate andimplement a plan for real benefit to our marine environment that includes everyone and excludesnobody.

VRFish welcomes the opportunity implicit in the VAGO findings to work with government, managers,environmental groups and the entire fishing industry for the betterment of Victoria’s marineenvironments.