Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve proposed proclamation and proposal to prepare a draft management plan

While I support the proposed expansion of the Heard Island and McDonald Island Marine Reserves it is important that the expansion be directed in such a way as to be of the most value to the marine environment. This includes protecting all levels of the surrounding ocean where threatened or at-risk species live, not just the deep sea which is currently minimally fished anyway.

The cold, antarctic/subantarctic deep sea is home to a wide array of marine life, however the amount present in any given section is low, as it's a relatively low energy and nutrient-density environment. This means that protecting large areas is of value, but of less value to the surrounding marine ecosystem than protecting the more energy and nutrient-dense areas closer to the surface. I would more fully support an expansion of the marine reserve that includes protection for these higher value areas.

Although "hook and pole" fishing sounds targeted and precise the reality is that the long lines that are proposed to be allowed in a significant section of the proposed reserve area are excellent at taking large amounts of fish from the environment. To allow these to operate within a marine reserve would be anathema to the conservation values that prompted the creation of the reserve in the first place and it makes little sense to do so. What makes more sense is for Australia to provide a safe-haven for biodiversity in the region, illustrating with our actions the widely held values that the natural environment is of both intrinsic worth as well as of worth to our society as a whole, separate from the economic value that can be derived from it.

Important to the conservation aspects of the proposed plan is a mechanism, and ongoing funding for, enforcement of the allowed and not-allowed behaviours that we choose to take place in our territorial waters. Without enforcement a marine reserve is simply another body of water.