Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, upon notice, on 28 April 2011:

(1) Has there been any increase in the number of New Zealand fishing boats licensed to fish for Patagonian toothfish in the Ross Sea; if so, how has Australia responded to the increase.

(2) What actions have been taken in response to the call from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to make Ross Sea a marine protected area.

(3) What is the Minister's response to recent research suggesting that commercial fishing in the Ross Sea has led to an explosion in Adélie penguin numbers and decline in killer whale and Weddell seal numbers.

(4) What is Australia's position on commercial fishing in the Ross Sea if it were to become a protected marine park.