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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-10-30 Daily Xml
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FISHERIES

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about fisheries management.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: As we all know, fishing and our seafood are an important part of South Australia's self-image, providing not only wonderful food, a valuable industry and regional jobs but also recreation. My question is: can the minister advise the chamber of recent developments to help support the management, longevity and health of our fisheries?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Of course, fisheries is an extremely diverse industry, operating right across South Australian waters, ranging from small family operations to large corporations. They also operate in cooperation with Wildcatch Fisheries SA and PIRSA to ensure that the resource which they harvest is managed and harvested in a sustainable way.

With the backdrop of myriad fisheries, a new policy is being developed to guide the development of the comanagement of our fisheries. A policy for the comanagement of fisheries in South Australia has been adopted by my agency following advice from the Fisheries Management Council, and this provides clarity and confidence to the industry and key stakeholders and strengthens relationships with government.

We have for many years favoured working in partnership with the fishing industry and other stakeholders on fisheries management. I have to say that there has always been a very good vibe across those industries, a very good vibe indeed. The level of cooperation and the preparedness to work together and share responsibility for the fisheries is well developed here in South Australia and something we should be very proud of.

This partnership has been strengthened in recent years with a more collaborative comanagement approach in some fisheries, which has provided favourable social, environmental and economic outcomes and led to more efficient decision-making, among other things. Some South Australian fisheries now operate within strong comanagement arrangements, such as the Spencer Gulf Prawn Fishery, which is recognised internationally as one of the world's best-managed fisheries. This is another development which is of particular relevance to our pristine waters of Spencer Gulf.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to announce today that SARDI has developed a new super computer-based model to help management the resources of Spencer Gulf. This new model will help scientists take into account a number of quite complex interactions which can affect the environment in the Spencer Gulf and help deliver the best balance between developing new aquaculture opportunities and maintenance of the long-term health of this marine environment. Of course, the Spencer Gulf, as well as being the site of many people's favourite fishing spots, also provides many economic and commercial opportunities for SA, so it is really important that we understand how to manage this area sustainably, for both current and future generations.

SARDI has developed the model with funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) under the Innovative Solutions for Aquaculture Planning and Management program. This new model, created by SARDI's oceanography group, simulates the ocean's circulation and the biological response to nutrient inputs from aquaculture, shipping wastewater, environmental flows, and also from land and natural resources that provide food for phytoplankton, which is a very important, very small plant that is part of the marine environment.

I am advised that the model is based on the best science and knowledge of the natural ecosystem that is available. It has benefited from the robust data collected through the Southern Australian node of the state-of-the-art Integrated Marine Observing System (SA-IMOS), which is a $10 million program established five years ago by SARDI, Flinders University and the Australian government to monitor the coastal boundary currents and planktonic ecosystems.

This information has provided new information about how the ecosystem works, meaning that this model can take into account a wide range of factors, including ocean circulation, seasonal variations in climate and rainfall, and waste nutrients produced by farmed finfish and industrial sources. As a result, the model, which includes more factors than previous attempts to replicate this complex environment—and, of course, the more our scientists know the better informed our fisheries management and environment management of the Spencer Gulf system will be. It is a great achievement by SARDI. In particular, I congratulate Associate Professor John Middleton and his team of SARDI aquatic scientists for this wonderful advancement in our fisheries.

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