QLD:Greens call for mining ban in Coral Sea

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2010
QLD:Greens call for mining ban in Coral Sea

By Petrina Berry

BRISBANE, Aug 10 AAP - The Greens have proposed a new plan to protect the Coral Sea
off Australia's northeastern coast from oil and gas mining.

The Coral Sea is three times the size of its neighbour, the Great Barrier Reef, and
is home to coral reefs and thriving fish populations, turtles, reef sharks and whales.

Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said only one per cent of the Coral Sea was protected,
which opened it up to destructive activities such as overfishing and oil and gas extraction.

He called for a Coral Sea Marine Reserve and for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority to be extended to manage the "complementary" reserve.

"Oil and gas mining in the Coral Sea would put the Great Barrier Reef at risk of a
major spill, as we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico," he told reporters in Brisbane.

Senator Brown said under the plan, oil and gas extraction would be banned and recreational
game fishing would be limited to the western region (near Cairns) of the one million square
kilometre park.

"We know the Great Barrier Reef has a $6 billion ticket attached to it each year for
business in Queensland - 63,000 jobs," Mr Brown said.

"The Coral Sea is the perfect complement to make it an even richer natural heirloom
for jobs and prosperity in Queensland in the decades and centuries to come."

The WWF says new research has found more than 80 per cent of Queenslanders say their
vote would be influenced by policies that protect the nation's oceans.

"These results show loud and clear that Queenslanders want to protect our wonderful
oceans so both they and their children can continue to enjoy them into the future," said
WWF's spokeswoman Dr Gilly Llewellyn.

The results are part of nationwide research conducted by Auspoll for WWF and the Australian
Conservation Council.

The two conservation groups are calling on the next Australian government to create
a network of marine sanctuaries by 2012.

They support the Greens proposal to create a Coral Sea reserve.

AAP peb/pjo/mm

KEYWORD: POLL10 GREENS REEF

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