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18 October 1998 |
Ref 98/245 |
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Australia has a chance to regain her Lucky Country status,
this time from the bounty of her ocean, and one of Australia's
leading marine scientists has called for a concerted national
approach to oceans development and management as one of the new
Federal Government's first major initiatives.
"Australia's coastal and deep ocean environment is returning
around $52 billion a year to the Australian economy and growing
faster than most other economic sectors," says CSIRO's Dr
Nan Bray.
"We can have a fresh shot at being the lucky country by
investing in coastal and oceans research and with increasing
recognition of the value of these resources, the new Government
has a golden opporunity to take what will, in fact, be a global
lead in oceans and coastal management and stewardship,"
Dr Bray said.
Dr Bray was speaking at an International Year of the Ocean Forum
of senior Government, industry and research leaders in Sydney
today to review options for Australia's development and management
of coastal marine ecosystems and deep oceans.
"You have to ask what else is out there that we are still
to find, or need to protect and conserve?", she said, referring
to the recent joint Australian-French Tasman Sea gas hydrates
find, which has been said to be 10 times as large as gas reserves
on the North-West Shelf.
Dr Bray said an Oceans Policy and accompanying Marine Science
and Technology (MS and T) Plan had been drafted earlier this
year and the Federal Government should be congratulated for progressing
such an important initiative in the International Year of the
Ocean. While requiring funding to make it operable, successful
implementation also required a unified Federal and State approach
to the Oceans Policy.
"If we want to implement policies that promote development
of oil and gas, tourism, wild fisheries and aquaculture but also
take a strong conservation position, we have to be in on this
together.
"There is a growing community recognition that marine resources
create real wealth and need to be managed not only for today
but for tomorrow," she said.
Dr Bray said that under the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Australia has one of the largest marine
jurisdictional zones in the world. This zone comprises about
12 million square kilometres, excluding Antarctica, and is about
50% larger than the Australian landmass. UNCLOS requires that
the outer limits of this marine zone be defined by the year 2004.
She said some priorities for marine research should be -
- Defining the boundaries of Australia's Marine Jurisdiction
- Assessing the nature and extent of marine life and harvestable resources from the coast to the deep ocean. Only five per cent has been mapped and at the current rate it would take 110 years to complete.
- Seafloor mapping to determine mineral and oil and gas deposits.
- Funding to operate 2-3 research vessels year-round, rather than the present two for only six months of the year
- Development of an ocean observing system combining data from satellites, commercial shipping, ocean moorings and profilers for climate and deep oceans research.
- Better coordination of marine data management.
Dr Bray said the income from the entire marine area from the
coast to the deep ocean currently represents 8 % of the gross
national product, and is the most vigorously growing sector of
the Australian economy. It comprises: Tourism $36 billion; Oil
& Gas $10 billion; Shipping $2.2 billion; Fisheries &
Aquaculture $1.8 billion, Ship & Boat Building $1.5 billion.
Other $0.5 billion. Total: $52 billion
"That's more income than we generate through agriculture,"
said Dr Bray "and its growing two to three times faster
than the general rate of economic growth.
"In terms of climbing economic value, business growth and
job creation, no other sector shows this kind of strength. Continuing
research is vital to continuing sustainable growth," said
Dr Bray.
"Development of marine resources is not going to wait one
hundred years for science to gather the information needed to
ensure sustainable development. The prize is too rich for that
kind of patience to be a realistic expectation," she said.
More information from:
Dr Nan Bray 0419 521 693
Don Michel 0419 314 434
(Australia's largest scientific research organisation)
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