Scientists have challenged Tanya Plibersek’s claim that Australia is protecting more than half of its oceans and has “blitzed” a 30% target, arguing industrial longline fishing will still be allowed in some areas the government says it is conserving.
The environment minister told a “global nature-positive summit” in Sydney on Tuesday the government had quadrupled the size of the sub-Antarctic Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, a world heritage area about 4,000km south-west of Perth.
She said the more than 300,000 sq km expansion of the marine reserve meant Australia would be protecting 52% of its ocean territory, far more than the 30% target by 2030 the government signed up to as part of a global agreement in 2022.
“I’m proud to say we’ve blitzed our 30 by 30 target when it comes to oceans,” she said.
Dr Ian Cresswell, a co-author of the last five-yearly federal State of the Environment report, said “Australia should not say that we’ve reached the target because we haven’t,”
He said some of the newly protected areas were not particularly ecologically sensitive, while other areas that seabirds and marine mammals used for feeding and during breeding had been deemed “habitat protection zone” – a designation that bans trawling and mining but allows fishing using bottom longlines.