Marine Conserva A Newsletter about Marine Conservation in CALM June 2001 FOOD FOR THOUGHT A recent article entitled Absent Friends by Hugh Edwards ' in the local fishing paper West Coast Fisherman provides ample food for thought. The article (Vol 2, Issue 8) is an historical Role of the MPRSAC account of changes in fish populations at Rottnest Island over The Marine Parks and Reserves Scientific Advisory the past 40-50 years. According to Hugh many of the large Committee (MPRSAC) is a statutory committee appointed 'resident' fish species that were abundant in the 50s and 60s by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. The were rare or absent altogether by the 70s. In the early days large Committee has seven members including a senior scientific cod over ~ 100 kg were common and a 645- kg Queerisland officer from each of CALM, Fisheries WA and the WA grouper or giant cod was caught on a ·shark line out of Museum; a sc ientist from a tertiary educational or research Thompsons Bay after choking on a seven foot shark that had institution; a scientist not employed by the State or first taken the hook. Commonwealth governments; and two scientists who Other popular target species such as large blue groper were have knowledge and experience relevant to the functions com_mon in Rottnest bays, baldchin groupers were a common of the Committee. Dr Chris Simpson, Manager of CALM's sight around' reef lumps in Thompsons Bay and · dhufish were Marine Conservation Branch is the current Chair of the plentiful with big schools often seen at Longreach and Dyers Committee. The other members of the committee are Dr Island. Nu·merous other fish species that were ~nee a0undant at Iva Stejkal, formerly of Apache Energy; Dr James Penn, Rottnest are now rarely seen or absent altogether. The only Director, Research Fisheries Department; Dr Paddy Berry, abundant remaining large species are the ones that are not Director, Museum of Natural History; Dr Andrew Heyward, sought by fishermen, such as buff bream and dusky morwong. Scientist in Charge, Australian Institute of Marine Science; The other changes to the mar i"ne food web as a result of the loss Dr Louis Evans, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences; ·of most of the large predatory fish species are completely Dr Jackie Alder, Department of Environmental unknown but likely to be just as significant. The reason for the Management, Edith Cowan University. demise of the large fish, according to Hugh Edwards, is obvious and was the result of ' ... gross over-fishing' . The functions of the Committee are: The changes in the fish populations at Rottnest Island over • to provide scientific advice to the Minister, where the the past four or five decades have substantially reduced the Minister has sought that advice, on issues relevant to intrinsic 'value' of Rottnest waters as well as diminished their the conservation of-marine and estuarine fauna, flora value for nature appreciation, fishing and marine tourism . Most. and environments, and marine reserves; urrent visitors to Rottnest would be completely unaware of • to provide scientific advice to the Marine Parks and these changes under the water; the island is still as beautiful as Reserves Authority- ever and the waters are still crystal clear and deep blue. However, (i) where the functions of the Authority may be a diver's experience would be similar to, as Dayton et al. (1998{ affected by a matter being considered by the recently wrote in describing a similar demise of large fish in the Committee; giant kelp forests off California, " ...studying the Serengeti after (ii) on matters referred to the Committee by the all the large grazers and carnivores were eliminated: one could Authority; and still appreciate termites and other small grazers, but on·e·s (iii) on matters which, in the opinion of the Committee, expectations of nature pale beside what it used to be" . should be brought to the attention of the Continued on page 3, Authority. Contact: Dr Chris Simpson, Manager Marine Conservation Branch, ' Hugh Edwards is a well-known Western Australian diver and author and, in the early 60s, was involved in finding the Dutch wreck Batavia which was wrecked in 1629 at E-mail: [email protected] the Abrolhos Islands off Geraldton. ' Ecological Applications. Vol. B, No. 2. IMPORTANT NEWS IN THIS ISSUE • Jurien Bay Marine Park update p.2 • Review-oceanography of Ningaloo Marine Park p. 7 • Pilbara marine conservation reserves p.3 • Funding for the Swan Estuary Marine Park p. 8 DEPARTMENT OF § Conservation 1 ANO LAND MANAGEMENT Con,orving tho noluro of WA MARINE RESERVE IMPLEMENTATION along with articles and notices in newspapers and specialist' Proposed Jurien Bay magazines. In addition, notices were posted in local shop windows and ·other public areas, while letters were sent to Marine Park local community organisati,ons and State peak bodies . Public submissions update A web site with submission facilities together with audiovisual presentations and radio interviews provided a The three-month statutory public submission period for technological component and meetings, school the Indicative Management Plan (IMP) of the proposed presentations, open office days in central west coast towns · Jurien Bay Marine Park closed on 5 January 2001 . More and numerous one-on-one discussions provided the than 80 written and pro-forma submissions were received personal touch . , and there were more than 400 'hits' on the CALM website location containing the IMP. A summary of all public The statutory three-month public submission period submissions was compiled by the Marine Conservation closed on 5 January and a summary of public response to Branch and forwarded to the MPRA for their consideration this communication effort will be provided in the next issue at their 19 April meeting. The overwhelming majority of of Marine Conservation Matters. submissions were supportive of the proposed marine park. Contact: Dr Sue Osborne, Community Liaison Officer, Marine Two stakeholder groups did not support the IMP. As Conservation Branch expected most concern focused on the proposed zoning E-mail: [email protected] scheme of the park. Once the MPRA has considered the submissions, the IMP will be revised accordingly, if appropriate, and final ised . Once the IMP is finalised the process will focus on the gazettal of the park later this year. Contact: Andrew Hill, Senior Marine Planner, Marine Conservation Branch E-mail: [email protected] Public participation program We all have our preferences when it comes to communication. For some, there is nothing like reading . For others, the message doesn't get through without the use of· technology, while the rest of us prefer a personal chat. The communication strategy to encourage and facilitate community input into the planning process for the proposed Jurien Bay Marine Park has accommodated all of these communication preferences. Eye catching local children's posters were used to encourage public comment on the proposed Jurien Bay marine park. For the readers, the Indicative Management Plan and summary brochure were distributed throughout the State Cervantes School children h_elp public submissions The work of local artists and students at Cervantes Primary School has been used by CALM in posters about the proposed marine pa rk. Kylie Brown, Jesse Chandler­ Cox and both Hayley and Ashley Paulinski created underwater scenes and pictures of boats and fishing to encourage members of the community to prepare written submissions in relation to the draft management plan. Children's art is always bright and eye-catching and the work we received from these four students was excellent-congratulations. The children's involvement in this project emphasises that the whole community has a part to play in planning the proposed marine park. Contact: Dr Sue Osborne, Community Liaison Officer, Marine Lauren Monks (left) and Dr Sue Osborne were two of the CALM staff in volved in Conservation Branch · the ·Cen tral West Coast open office days. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Proposed Pilbara marine conservation reserves Dampier Archipelago/Cape Preston proposal The Advisory Committee for the Dampier Archipelago/Cape Preston area met for the second time in November 2000. One of the major issues discussed at the meeting w as w hether the Port of Dampier should be included in the _reserve. As the Damper Port Area is currently vested in the Dampier Po rt Authority, the legalities of the same area being vested in the MPRA as a CALM Act marine conservation reserve were questioned. Legal advi ce has been subsequently sought from the Crow n Solicitors Office (CSO). Representatives from Woodside, Hamersley Iron and · Tra ining course participants at Dandaragan Shire Offices in Jurien Bay. Dampier Salt gave presentations to the Committee on the value of the area for industry and possible future industrial Staff training for Jurien public submission period developments relevant to the marine planning process . One of the main objectives of involving the public in The Pilbara Native Title Service and a representative marine reserve planning and management is to engender a from the Kurrama Group gave a presentation to the sense of community ownership and stewardship. To Committee on the issues of interest to indigenous people in encourage and facilitate local community involvement in the area . The Committee is keen to obtain more input from the statutory public submission phase for the proposed other indigenous groups in the area so that they have a Jurien Bay Marine Park, a short training course was better understanding of all the issues relevant to the delivered to CALM staff and staff from the Dandaragan indigenous· community. Shire in early November 2000. Sue Osborne, Chris Simpson and Nigel Sercombe provided a general background about At the third meeting of the Committee during February the proposed Jurien Bay Marine Park and planning process 2001 , CSO advice with regard to the inclusion of the Port and · explained the development of the Indicative of Dampier was presented to the Committee.