Orders given to ban dumping of capital dredge material in Marine Park
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP - Minister for the Environment
Media release - 24 January 2015
I have issued orders for the creation of regulations for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to put an end to the dumping of capital dredge material in the Marine Park once and for all.
This fulfils the historic pledge I made in November 2014 at the World Parks Congress, and meets the important commitment we made to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
We are ending a century-old practice of dumping in the Marine Park that was fully embraced by Labor Governments at Federal and State level. Labor had the chance to do this but did nothing.
We inherited five major proposals from Labor to dispose of dredge spoil in the Marine Park. We have reduced this to zero and are now taking the next step to enshrine a ban in law.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983 will be amended to implement the ban.
This is a significant step towards improving and protecting the Marine Park for current and future generations.
Australians are proud of the reef and it remains one of the great natural wonders of the world.
The Government has finalised its response to the World Heritage Committee (WHC) with a strong defence of the management of the Great Barrier Reef and concluding that it should not be listed as in danger.
Next week I am travelling to Europe to consult on the Long-Term Sustainability Plan requested by WHC and State Party Report. I will be highlighting the significant progress made by the Federal Government in responding to challenges facing the Reef since the World Heritage Committee first put it on watch under the previous Labor Government in 2011.
We inherited this warning from the World Heritage Committee and we have responded with rigour and passion to protect this icon for which Australians should be rightly proud of. We have had to take strong decisions – including banning of capital dredge disposal in the Marine Park – in light of the inactivity by the previous Labor Government. Over the next decade the Federal and Queensland governments will invest around $2 billion to protect the reef, including a new $40 million Reef Trust to target the priority issues such as reducing nutrient and sediment runoff and targeting the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish.
Climate change, nutrient run-off from land and crown-of-thorns starfish are all challenges facing the reef and we are taking action to tackle them all.
Water quality is improving, the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish are being targeted and culled, and we have better and stricter management regimes for shipping and developments, including ports.
We're investing $2.55 billion to tackle climate change by cutting Australia's domestic emissions. It's a significant commitment and a sign of how seriously we take the issue.
We are investing more, taking stronger practical action and putting in place greater legal protections than any government before us to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
We are determined to protect and manage the Great Barrier Reef not just for the coming decades, but for coming centuries.
Warming seas decrease sea turtle basking
Green sea turtles may stop basking on beaches around the world within a century due to rising sea temperatures, a new study suggests. Basking on sun-warmed beaches helps the threatened turtles regulate their body temperatures and may aid their immune systems and digestion.
By analyzing six years of turtle surveys and 24 years of satellite data, researchers from Duke University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and the University of Ioannina in Greece have found the turtles bask more often each year when sea surface temperatures drop.
If global warming trends continue, this behavior may cease globally by 2102, the study projects. In Hawaii, where the study was primarily focused, green turtles might stop basking much earlier, by 2039.
The scientists published their peer-reviewed findings last week in the journal Biology Letters.
"By comparing turtle basking counts with sea surface temperatures, we found that green turtles tend not to bask when local winter sea surface temperatures stay above 23 degrees Celsius," said lead researcher Kyle Van Houtan, adjunct associate professor at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.
To conduct the study, Van Houtan and his colleagues used six years of turtle count data collected daily by the Hawaiian nonprofit Mālama na Honu on Laniakea Beach in Oahu. The counts showed regular, seasonal fluctuations in the number of turtles basking on the beach. These fluctuations correlated with sea temperatures at Laniakea, indicating that sea turtles bask more when waters are cooler.
The scientists then compared these fluctuations in temperature and basking to growth marks in the humerus bone of several green turtles. They found that the growth lines occurred at the same time of year when turtles bask more, between February and April.
The turtles' growth lines are similar to tree rings in that they indicate periods of stress for the organism, said Van Houtan, who is also a scientist in NOAA's Turtle Research Program. In trees, growth rings can indicate winter, dry seasons, or periods of drought. In green turtles, the lines seem to reflect periods when seas are colder and body temperatures are consequently lower, prompting the turtles to haul out on beaches to warm in the sun.
More research is needed to fully understand the importance of basking and the effect climate change will have on basking behaviors of green turtle populations around the world. said Van Houtan.
Not all green turtles bask on land, he noted. Though the turtles are found in tropical and subtropical oceans around the world, beachbasking has only been observed in Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands and Australia. Sea surface temperatures at these sites have been observed to be warming at three times the global average rate.
It is not yet clear whether populations that currently bask on land during cooler months will adapt to warming sea temperatures and begin to bask exclusively in the water, as do some other populations around the world.
"When looking at climate change, which is this vast geopolitical issue, you have to drill down to specific climate variables impacting specific aspects of an organism's life," said Van Houtan. "The next step for us is to look at how turtles are storing climate data in their bodies -- in their tissues, shells, and bones, and how we can tease that out."
1. K. S. Van Houtan, J. M. Halley, W. Marks. Terrestrial basking sea turtles are responding to spatio-temporal sea surface temperature patterns. Biology Letters, 2015; 11 (1): 20140744 DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0744
Green sea turtle., Credit: Image courtesy of Duke University
Summer fish stocks set to rise
28th January 2015 - Recreational fishers will see fish stocks rise as the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) releases more than 4 million fingerlings and fry into lakes, dams and rivers across NSW by the end of summer.
While visiting the Narrandera Fisheries Centre, Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson said that over 100 popular fishing spots across NSW would benefit from the DPI’s fish stocking program.
“Throughout the 2014-15 fishing season, DPI plan to stock NSW public waters with around 60,000 Australian bass, 240,000 Murray cod, 650,000 golden perch, 225,000 silver perch, 150,000 Atlantic salmon, 560,000 brown trout, 100,000 brook trout, 24,000 trout cod and 1.9 million rainbow trout,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
“Here at the Narrandera Fisheries Centre, around 1.2 million Murray cod, golden perch, silver perch and trout cod will be produced for dams and rivers from Albury all the way to Inverell."
The DPI hatcheries in Gaden and Dutton produce all trout that stocks NSW waterways, while the Narrandera and Port Stephens hatcheries produce native fish for stocking primarily into dams and lakes.
DPI’s fish stocking program benefits local communities by improving recreational fishing, ensuring conservation of certain species, and providing employment and tourism to regional areas.
50th Anniversary of the Freedom Ride
Summer triggers for male eating disorders
28 January 2015 - Sun, sand and swimming may sound relaxing but for an increasing number of men summer is a stressful time as they grapple with concerns about body image.
These concerns may seem benign but they can lead to 'eating-disordered behaviour' and, in some cases, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and muscle dysmorhphia.
Psychologist, Deborah Mitchison, from the University of Western Sydney School of Medicine says the social demands of summer holidays can be particularly difficult for the 41 percent of men who have experienced one of the eating disorders or behaviours at some time in the lives.
"Medical referrals for men with eating disorders increase over summer," says Ms Mitchison, who has studied the survey responses of over 3000 adults randomly selected for a health behaviours survey.
"Summer is a time when many men may become preoccupied with their physical appearance. This can lead to the use of extreme weight-control behaviours and, in some cases, binge eating. Such behaviours can, in turn, lead to avoidance of social situations and isolation."
Research conducted by Ms Mitchison and colleagues has shown in the decade 1998 to 2008 eating-disordered behaviour increased across all demographics but faster for males.
She says extreme weight loss behaviours such as very strict dieting, fasting, self-induced vomiting, and taking laxatives are increasing at a significantly faster rate in males.
Compared to the 1998 survey, the number of men in 2008 who said they practiced at least weekly extremely strict dieting or went on fasts in order to alter their weight had more than doubled.
The proportion of men who went on at least weekly eating binges, where they felt that they had lost control and could not stop eating, also increased markedly during this period.
Ms Mitchison says males may be less likely than females to recognise that their eating behaviour is pathological and also less likely to consider seeking professional help for such behaviour or other mental health problems.
"Males may be reluctant to acknowledge that they have an eating disorder because they think it's something only females experience," says Ms Mitchison.
"Men with an eating disorder may feel ashamed, stigmatised and somehow 'less manly'. They don't know how people, including their doctor, may react."
The community has come a long way in recognising and providing support for females with eating disorders. However, Ms Mitchison says there is a considerable lag in providing tailored support for men.
"GPs often do not recognise eating disorders in their male patients which may further delay the patient from receiving the treatment they need."
Ms Mitchison encourages GPs to consider eating disorders when males with body image concerns present at their clinics.
She says research indicates education and treatment programs for eating disorders need to be broadened to better reflect the diversity of people with the disorders, including not only males, but older women.
"There are effective treatment options available, including cognitive behaviour therapy. However, males may not be aware of that they have a problem that requires specialist treatment or may feel uncomfortable accessing this sort of treatment."
