I feel strongly about this. Please have a look here and post your thoughts too, if you are able.

I feel strongly about this. Please have a look here and post your thoughts too, if you are able.

Western Australia
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/marine/sw-marine-parks/our-ocean-heritage

South Australia
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/marine/sa-marine-parks/

Most Western Australians live on the coast and enjoy a swim in the sea. Most of us will have happy memories of sandcastles and snorkelling and fishing.

My father, unfortunately recently deceased, pioneered underwater photography in this state. He loved the sea - the surf at Scarborough, the clear waters of Rottnest Island where he snorkelled - he taught me and my sister to love and respect the ocean and its creatures, there and at Metham's Pool and in Geraldton too!

But it's not just a matter of clear blue water and white sand, although that's more or less what most people see and think of.

Today's oceans are under pressure as never before. Pollution, non-sustainable fishing practises and the effects of climate change on the deeps make it deeply ironic that less than half of one percent of the world's oceans are marine sanctuaries.

"Scientific studies conducted both in Australia and overseas show that large marine national parks, in particular, support a higher diversity and abundance of marine life than surrounding areas. This is largely because fishing is removed from those areas.

If properly designed and large enough, marine national parks provide refuges where fish can grow to maturity and breed, creating a "spill over" effect, populating surrounding areas." - Australian Marine Conservation Society.

It makes sense to provide these reservations for both commercial species, and endangered wildlife, where the only pressure from humans will be from tourism, and properly managed may well be a benefit to the area, increasing public education, awareness and tourism dollars - and a desire to protect these irreplaceable organisms.

According the the Australian Marine
Conservation Society, Fewer protected areas exist in the pelagic ocean than any other ecosystem on Earth, yet it constitutes 99% of the biosphere volume, supplies >80% of the fish consumed by humans, and accounts for nearly half of the photosynthesis on Earth.

(Game, E.T. et al. 2009. Pelagic protected areas: the missing dimension in ocean conservation. TREE 24: 360-369.):

And at the end of it all, in all of Australia, only 14% of our marine waters are protected. Most of that is The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Western Australia is woefully under-represented in the Marine National Park stakes, and considering our fishing industry, at the very least, this is dangerous, without even considering the environmental impact. If the stocks have no where to recover, no reservation, no marine ark, then eventually they will be unable to recover. I'm finding it difficult to obtain local sustainable fish. Most fish sellers can't even tell me how a fish is caught.

I don't want to have to choose between sanctuaries! Do I save the criminally over fished Orange Roughie from the destructive sea floor trawling at the Albany Canyons or the majestic Blue Whale of the Perth Canyon. Biodiversity is a wonderful thing, and in some of the sanctuaries being proposed (and being unproposed!) we don't even know what is there yet.

We need these ten sanctuaries. What a wonderful thing it would be to ensure protection of these, our precious seas.
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/marine/sw-marine-parks/our-ocean-heritage