It is imperative to increase the amount of marine waters reserved in NSW. Currently only about 0.05% of the state’s marine waters enjoy the full protection of ‘no-take’ sanctuary zones required for natural, healthy ecosystems.

The general opinion amongst international experts is that an absolute minimum of 20% of the world's oceans should be declared as no-take zones based on the precautionary principle. The American Association for Advancement of Science and the Australian Marine Science Association (Victoria) have both issued consensus statements saying that networks of no-take marine reserves are a central management tool for both fisheries and biodiversity conservation.

An article from the Australian Department of Fisheries1 points to the benefits of fully-protected reserves.

"It is becoming apparent that sanctuaries can deliver benefits through ‘spillover’ into the adjacent fishery and larval export into settlement areas from where they’ll eventually recruit into the fishery."

Solitary Islands Marine Park (SIMP) is situated off the coast of Coffs Harbour, northern NSW. Its draft management proposal plans to protect only 6% of the marine park in no-take zones. 100% protection would counteract the low overall NSW percentage, but if this is politically unacceptable, at the very least, 25% of SIMP should be protected!

The Nature Conservation Council (NCC)’s proposal for three large no-take sanctuary transect zones includes:

Northern: (5–6km wide) linking the shores to Yuraygir NP (at Sandon beach) to the currently proposed eastern zone in that area, linking up with the commonwealth zone at Pimpernel Rock.

Central: (5–6km wide) starting from Jones Point to Station Creek, and extending out to east boundary, encompassing North Solitary Island and North Rock

Southern: (5km wide) from Look At Me Now headland to Green Bluff, extending to east boundary , encompassing South Solitary Island.

The SIMP is host to a variety of marine life from tropical to temperate species with unique subtropical species not found anywhere else on the east coast of Australia. With proper management of the resource the SIMP has the potential to be the major diving and marine research destination in NSW.

When a group of scientists and conservationists first proposed the SIMP in 1992 a lot of opposition to the park was generated by a well organised recreational fishing lobby — resulting in the adoption of a Multi-use Marine Park concept in 1996, with the Department of Fisheries playing the major role in the management of the park.

The influence of NSW Fisheries in the management of the park prevented real conservation of the marine life and habitat with less than 0.5% of the park being placed within no-take sanctuaries. Although at the time the conservation movement was opposed to this ‘paper park’, the movement was not organised enough to aid the local community’s influence on decision makers.

When the management plan for the SIMP was up for review in 2000/01, a number of marine scientists, fishers, tourism operators and conservationists formed a group which would be known as ‘The Friends of the Solitary Islands’ with the aim of promoting a better conservation outcome for the park — increase in sustainable fishing, opportunities for ecotourism and protection of its habitats.

The Friends were able to raise public awareness of the need to participate in the public debate, repudiating some of the outrageous statements from the anti-conservation lobby. Slowly the media changed from being against the marine park to being in some instances supportive of increased conservation.

The campaign — calling for a minimum of 20% of the park to be protected within a Sanctuary Zone — was supported by the Ulitarra Society, the Bellingen Environment Centre, NCC and NPA resulting in more than 1000 submissions supporting increased conservation.

The results of the public participation process are now being determined by the Marine Parks Authority.

*Megan Gallagher is the Fisheries Networker for the NCC 
and *Leife Lemke is spokesperson for Friends of Solitary Islands