Essay On Marine Parks

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Marine Parks are areas of ocean and coastline that are protected by the government and are safe havens for wildlife. Recently, the South Australian marine environment has been under pressure from population growth, development and pollution. The Government has set up Marine Parks in an attempt to conserve the scenic and biologically important waterscape. There have been many debates against the introduction of this system, with multiple protests centred on fear of lifestyle and livelihood changes because many coastal regions rely on tourism and locally caught seafood. Consumers of fish also disagree with the project because they believe that the price of fish will increase substantially. Additionally, fisheries are against the Marine Parks, because of the possibility that their source of fish will initially be reduced. The government have agreed to compensate people affected by the establishment of the parks.

Biology
South Australia has a large biodiversity with ‘80% of South Australia’s marine life not being found anywhere else on Earth’ . This biodiversity will be conserved with the introduction of Marine Parks.
The establishment of the Marine Park system will provide a place of refuge for marine animals and improve their overall living conditions. This is because marine parks have specific rules preventing the exploitation of species, over-fishing and boating pollution, enabling marine life to become more plentiful and the individual organisms to increase in health and size. The diversity of the organisms will also increase, as will the overall biomass of the sea life. There is proof of this on Rottnest Island, WA. The density of lobsters was ’34 times higher in the sanctuary… than in other areas around the island wh...

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...pay for the setting up of the marine parks and the large sum of compensation that the government has agreed to pay the fishing industry. This money could be spent on more important things such as healthcare and donations.

Conclusion
The introduction of the Marine Park system in South Australia will help protect and conserve the large biodiversity of sea life in the state. The Marine Parks will enable the stock of fish to replenish and the tourism industry to increase in the long-term. Despite the negatives of the issues of tourism, the possible closing of fisheries and the large sum of money that has been spent setting up the marine parks, this system will help protect the states future, and ensure that the ocean’s ecosystems remain healthy. Overall, the long-term positive effects heavily outweigh the short-term negatives, and Marine Parks were rightly introduced.

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