Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to rise to speak today about the Coral Sea and to share with the chamber, and any folks who might be listening, the beauty and specialness of this area of our waters off Queensland's coast. This is indeed a matter of public interest, and the reason I raise it today is that now, at this point in history, the government has the opportunity to protect the unique and important marine area that is Australia's Coral Sea. I want to urge it to take that opportunity and leave a marine legacy that our grandchildren's grandchildren can enjoy.

This area is a hugely valuable biodiversity icon not only in my home state of Queensland but, significantly, to the world. The government's decision on the protection it proposes for this region is expected any day now. It has been a long time coming, and there is a lot of interest in the community in protecting this underwater wilderness. So we encourage the government to move quickly and release its draft plan for the Coral Sea, to ensure that the community has a genuine ability to engage and respond and enough time to do so meaningfully.

While many Australians and certainly many tourists have had the special opportunity to enjoy firsthand the Great Barrier Reef, far fewer people have visited the reef's sister region to its east—the equally precious and even more pristine Coral Sea. We are still learning about just how precious and pristine it is, but the recent work of Dr Daniela Ceccarelli in developing a biophysical profile for the Coral Sea is a distillation of our understanding of the unique attributes of this area.

The Coral Sea is a huge expanse of unique tropical marine environment bounded on the west by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and on the east by the outer edge of Australia's exclusive economic zone, where it meets the EEZs of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. It spans almost a million square kilometres, almost three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It has 18 coral reef systems which emerge from the ocean plateau below and from the tops of the Tasmantid Seamounts chain of undersea volcanoes that stretches 1,300 kilometres southwards in the Tasman basin.

The Coral Sea also comprises vast areas of open ocean and deep-sea plains and canyons up to five kilometres deep. Importantly, the Coral Sea is also a hub connecting the broader region. It serves as a stepping stone for the dispersal of species from the western Pacific to the Great Barrier Reef. The East Australian Current forms in the Coral Sea and carries warm water and tropical species southward.

While it abuts the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea is home to many species of coral, fish and invertebrates that are not found on the reef and in fact are not found anywhere else. The Coral Sea is a haven for a myriad species and it has been recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot. It is one of the last places on earth where ocean giants like sharks, tuna, marlin, swordfish and sailfish still abound. Its open waters are home to 52 species of deepwater sharks and rays, and 18 of those are found nowhere else on the planet. Its deep eastern reaches host the only known place in the world where black marlin congregate to breed. Spectacular soft corals and large sea fans flourish in the ocean's 'twilight' zone between 30 and 100 metres deep, where it never gets lighter than our dusk, and its spectacular sponge gardens are home to ancient species considered living fossils.

There are also at least 28 species of dolphins and whales that frequent the Coral Sea. To date there has been limited research on these species, and ironically for a number of species the best data we have is based on how many fish they steal from longline fishermen, who have found that false killer whales and short-finned pilot whales are the most prevalent fish thieves in the area. Fishing crews have also reported pods of up to 400 melon-headed whales and false killer whales, and other surveys have found a number of the incredibly rare Omura's whale. The Coral Sea supports six of the world's seven species of marine turtle, my personal favourite—the green, the hawksbill, the loggerhead, the leatherback, the flatback and the olive ridley turtle. Green turtles are the only species to have been found to nest on the coral cays in the Coral Sea thus far, with very high densities nesting on the Lihou Reef as well as a reported turtle 'graveyard' on a nearby unvegetated cay. The other turtle species feed in the Coral Sea as they migrate across the region, with loggerheads coming from PNG, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and the NT and passing through the Coral Sea to nest on the Queensland coast. Female hawksbill turtles migrate from eastern Australia through the Coral Sea, where they forage in the Coringa-Herald cays on their way to Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and PNG.

While those ancient turtles may be my favourite, my two-year-old daughter is obsessed with eels—for the time being, anyway—and she would be thrilled to know that the Coral Sea is actually the birthplace of all of our freshwater eels. It is a fascinating story: all species of freshwater eels from both New Zealand and eastern Australia migrate north to the Coral Sea to spawn, in an ocean 200 to 300 metres deep. The larvae are transported south on the East Australian Current, maturing as they are swept along and, when the time is right, the young eels migrate back to the coastlines of Australia and New Zealand and find their way back to the estuaries, a round trip that can be as far as 3,000 kilometres. It is a long way to go for love, but I reckon it is worth it.

For all its vast area, the Coral Sea has only 49 small islands and cays. Many of them are critical nesting areas for green turtles, as I have said, but they are also home to 36 species of seabirds. A number of those species return to the islands each year to nest, while other seabirds nesting in the Great Barrier Reef travel out to the Coral Sea for food. Despite their remoteness, a number of those islands and cays have not escaped the impacts from humans. The introduction of scale insects has dramatically affected the vegetation on some cays, including decimating the Pisonia forests in the Coringa-Herald cays in the 1990s, which led to a shift in the cays' ecosystem. Rats have also inflicted damage by preying on seabird eggs and chicks. That noted, relative to so many other places on earth, the Coral Sea is pristine.

Not only is the Coral Sea a natural heritage treasure; it is also of significant historical importance to Australia. The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought by Australian and US naval and air forces in 1942 against the Japanese navy, was a major Pacific naval battle, and is regarded as the start of the Australian-American military cooperation. Three US warships sank in that pivotal two-day battle, taking with them more than 200 American sailors. This was recognised last week by President Obama, when the Prime Minister announced that our two countries would work together to identify those wrecks so they can be afforded formal heritage protection, hopefully in time for the 70th anniversary of the battle in May next year. So this is indeed a historically significant time, and what an opportunity for the government to respect that history and act to protect the natural wonder that is the Coral Sea.

Fortunately, to date the Coral Sea has been subject to relatively few pressures from humanity's ever-expanding footprint on this precious planet, but what an opportunity it is to now protect it, to keep it pristine and to ensure that it can be a wilderness and wildlife wonderland which supports those amazing species. Until recently, less than one per cent of the Coral Sea was protected from fishing, oil and gas exploration, and seabed mining. Only two of the Coral Sea's 18 reefs had been protected since 1982, when two Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas were established. In May 2009 the Coral Sea was declared a conservation zone under our federal laws, to provide interim protection while the Coral Sea was assessed for inclusion in the Commonwealth marine reserve system. Throughout the past 2½ years the only protection provided by that new status has been the requirement to get a permit for some new activities, including mining, but there has been no extra regulation of shipping. Commercial fishing has continued without any additional constraints and recreational fishing has been allowed to continue anywhere within the conservation zone.

So it is now time that the current assessment be progressed, the draft bioregional plan released and the community given its chance to have a say on this precious area and how much we should protect it. Why not make this beautiful area the world's largest marine national park, protecting all of the coral reefs and major breeding sites? What an opportunity, which, when taken with the Great Barrier Reef, could create a huge marine sanctuary for these great creatures which capture our imagination and swell our coffers with tourist dollars. It could also enhance the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef, particularly in the face of climate change and the global pressures facing so much of our oceans' sea life.

The Greens want to see meaningful protection of the Coral Sea, and that should mean no oil or gas exploration, no trawling, no longline or other commercial fishing and only limited recreational fishing in set areas on the western edge of the Coral Sea, consolidated and easily managed and monitored—not a Jarlsberg situation. Of course this needs to entail decent and appropriate compensation for those fishers who rely on the Coral Sea for their livelihood. There are not many of them, but that is absolutely appropriate. They deserve that compensation and the Greens will support them to receive it. Through the budget process we will be seeking a commitment from the government to properly finance that compensation and to establish good solid management arrangements for the Coral Sea. That is something that we will fight for.

I took the chance last week to raise the issue of the Coral Sea with President Obama, in both of the two brief opportunities that I had to speak with him. He said he would have to visit the place, and I told him it was a date—what the hell—but I hope that, before any such future visit, the historical significance of this area to both our countries, and the immense wilderness values, can be recognised and protected.

I want to take this chance to place on record my appreciation of the fantastic work that a number of regional, national and international conservation organisations have been doing with their Protect Our Coral Sea campaign, raising awareness both publicly and in this place of the special values of the Coral Sea. So my great thanks and acknowledgement go to the Australian Conservation Foundation; the Australian Marine Conservation Society; CAFNEC, the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre; Greenpeace; Humane Society International; the International Fund for Animal Welfare; the National Parks Association of Queensland; NQCC, the North Queensland Conservation Council; Pew Environment Group; Project AWARE Foundation; the Queensland Conservation Council; Wildlife Queensland; and the WWF Australia.

The reason their campaign to protect the Coral Sea is so important is that the world's reefs are disappearing at a rate five times faster than that of our rainforests. We have had 90 per cent of the world's big fish vanish in the last 50 years due to overfishing. The Coral Sea remains, largely, a thriving marine environment because of its remote location, but this makes it all the more important for us to step up now and protect this place for future generations. While there are currently no plans for oil and gas exploration in the Coral Sea, any such activity in future would be absolutely disastrous for the region. An oil spill similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico or the Montara spill off Western Australia would destroy one of the last great coral environments in the world and, with the prevailing winds, could possibly flow onto the Great Barrier Reef and even onto the coast of Queensland. What is needed is a complete prohibition on oil and gas exploration in the Coral Sea. The Greens have also long called for the entire Coral Sea to be 'no take', with only two specific zones open to recreational fishing to ensure such fishing is sustainable and minimises damage to the marine ecosystems.

Detailed research by the US National Academy of Sciences, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University has found that the green zones, the no-take zones, in the Great Barrier Reef do work. That research stated:

… the network of marine reserves on the GBR has brought major, sustained ecological benefits, including enhanced populations of target fish, sharks, and even corals, the foundation of the coral reef ecosystem.

That means more fish, and that means we can have a long-term, sustainable fishing industry. That is what the Greens want to see. The no-take zones also benefit overall ecosystem health. We have found fewer crown-of-thorns starfish in no-take zones.

Any day now we are expecting the government to release a consultation draft of the proposed Coral Sea bioregional plan. I urge anyone listening today who cares about this precious place to make their views known to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities on the need for it to be protected for future generations as the world's largest marine national park. Why not? Write now before the plan is released and again when it has been released. If it is good, let the minister know. If there is room for improvement, urge him to step up and ensure the final Coral Sea plan is solid. Call for all the diverse ecosystems of the Coral Sea to be protected—not just all its 18 reefs, but also the open oceans, its cays and atolls, and the trough systems that contain important breeding sites. Look closely at what percentage of the plan is proposed for marine reserves, which does not guarantee protection, and what percentage is marine national park, which does provide genuine protection.

Just this morning I had the immense pleasure of meeting and listening to world renowned oceanographer Dr Sylvia Earle. She spoke of the ocean as the 'blue heart' of what keeps us alive. It was very refreshing and inspirational. She is the patron of the Coral Sea Campaign, and I want to finish with her words. She said:

The Coral Sea is a rare thing—a place where majestic ocean-going fish can still be found in great numbers. In the last 50 years, the world has lost 90 per cent of these large ocean creatures due to overfishing. We need to do all we can to protect one of the world’s last remaining refuges. That’s why I support a fully protected marine park in the Coral Sea within Australia’s waters. I call it a 'hope spot' for the oceans. The Coral Sea would be the world’s largest protected area, a beacon to all other countries, and a giant leap forward for humanity’s custodianship of the sea.

Let us hope that the government has the inspiration, the courage and the foresight to leave such a legacy. With the community's help, I believe it can.