Final plans for southern marine parks revealed

SOUTH Australia's government this week released the complete set of proposed zones for the state's 19 marine parks. According to SA Environment Minister Paul Caica, recreational and commercial fishing will be allowed in parts of the the marine parks,

THE state government had announced a series of closed to fishing sanctuary zones in April which cover around six per cent of SA waters.

Caica said marine parks were critical to preserving the state's diverse marine ecosystems.

"About 80 per cent of marine species found in southern Australian waters are found nowhere else in the world," he said in a statement.

"Only a small portion of our marine park waters are proposed as marine sanctuaries.

"The majority of waters inside the parks are proposed as habitat protection or general managed zones, which provide for a wide range of commercial and recreational activities, including fishing."

Opposition environment spokesman Steven Marshall has said Labor had failed to release the regional impact statements on how coastal communities will be changed.

"Coastal communities deserve to know how their livelihoods will be affected," he said in a statement this week.

Marshall said the consultation on marine parks has been fraught from the beginning, with regional communities and the commercial fishing sector particularly angry about the way it has been handled.