Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park zoning plan out today

The final zone plan for the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park has been unveiled at Port Stephens this morning.

Under the zone plan:

• Keen anglers will retain access to key parts of Broughton Island and Little Beach, both popular spots with locals and visitors;
• Commercial fishers can continue to harvest pippis off Yagon beach, with improved access to Smiths Lake that will ensure fresh quality local seafood is still available; and
• The grey nurse shark will benefit with significantly increased protection at important aggregation sites such as The Pinnacle, Seal Rocks and Broughton Island.

The plan will provide good environmental outcomes, while maintaining quality fishing and other recreational opportunities for all.

More than 80% of the park will remain open to recreational fishing once the zones come into effect next March. Park users will have the summer period to become familiar with the new zoning arrangements

An extensive consultation process helped shaped the final zoning plan.

This involved more than 130 stakeholder meetings during the last 12 months, most of those in Port Stephens, Seal Rocks and Forster.

Approximately 43,000 drafts of the zoning plan were sent out and over 4,300 submissions were received. It is pleasing to see the local community having such a strong input into the development of the park to help ensure there was a sensible outcome.

Bruce Schumacher, the Chair of the Advisory Council on Recreational Fishing, said “he was very pleased that the Minister for Fisheries has listened to the concerns of anglers and has negotiated changes to the original draft plan that are far more acceptable to recreational fishers.”

The Port Stephens area is well known for its beautiful waterways and coastal attractions.

This area is home to some of the best recreational fishing on our coast, and has an extensive tourism industry based around its extensive estuaries and offshore islands.

Recreational fishing brings in over $10 million a year to the area and Port Stephens is also home to the biggest game fishing tournament in Australia, one of the biggest in the world.

The good news is these benefits will continue, as the Port Stephen-Great Lakes Marine Park will truly be a multi-use park.

The Government has committed $10 million to buy out commercial fishing effort in the park to give effect to the zoning arrangements, with the buy outs expected to be finalised early next year. 

The park will be reviewed in five years time, and the maps of the new zoning plan will be available today at the Marine Parks Authority website www.mpa.nsw.gov.au, and local DPI and DEC offices in the coming weeks.

An extensive education program will be carried out with the community prior to the new zoning plan coming in to effect in March 2007.