This is a position statement issued by the Sunshine Coast Candidates during the Queensland State Election - March 2009

Proposal for a network of Marine Park declarations between the Great Sandy Straits and Moreton Bay Marine Park – Queensland Greens candidates in the Sunshine and Cooloola Coast regions say it’s long overdue!

Kawana Greens candidate Lindsay Holt said: “Declaring a network of Marine Parks along the Cooloola and Sunshine Coasts is badly needed to protect the major marine ecosystems we have on our stretch of coast. These declarations are essential to address climate change, land-based runoff and various human impacts, and to help ensure that our fishery resources are still there in the future for fishermen to catch and scuba divers and snorkelers to marvel at.  Action is long overdue. The Greens are proposing to do what several Labor Governments have failed to deliver on (*).  We now call on Labor and Liberal National Party candidates to support our proposals.

Steve Haines , Greens candidate for Noosa said: “At this stage the Queensland Greens plan for declaring Marine Parks between the Great Sandy Straits and Moreton Bay Marine Park  includes the rocky headland /rock shelf marine ecosystems from Double Island Point down through Noosa, Coolum, Pt Arkwright, Pt Cartwright to Caloundra; the Wolf Rocks, Mudjimba Island and Sunshine reefs; shoals like The Gneerings; and sections of the eastern Bribie Island coast. The exact extent of the declared areas, zoning and permitted uses will be decided through effective consultation between State agency staff and commercial and community-based groups with expertise in marine ecosystems and their management.”

Buderim Greens candidate Danny Stevens  said: “It’s our intention to protect these valuable marine ecosystems by adopting practices that support their ecological values and processes for the benefit of all.  For example , our aim is for fishermen to benefit by preserving reef habitat, having more reef fish growing to maturity and having more pelagic fish drawn to the reefs concerned. Snorkelers and scuba divers will benefit by preserving the richness and condition of the few marine ecosystem assets we have in this region. ”

(*) Two state elections back Peter Beattie promised to declare a network of Marine Parks along the Queensland coastline from the NT to NSW borders. His Office even promised to declare several Marine Parks between Fraser Island and Moreton Bay MP as part of that network. But, like so many Labor promises, there’s been no delivery – apart from the Marine Park declared around HMAS Brisbane sunk off  Point Cartwright a few years ago.