US Professor - Ray Hilborn rebutts Brown claims

Keith Douglas, No.1 on the Senate Ticket for the Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party is fighting hard to keep the Greens out of the Senate in Queensland. The Greens proposed Marine Parks are not supported by leading scientists in Australia and the US and if implemented will have the potential to put thousands of Australians on the dole queue and destroy family businesses all over our state without valid reason.

Professor Ray Hilborn, based at the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, specialises in natural resource management and conservation and is an adviser to several international fisheries commissions, refuted overnight Bob Browns recent comments that "we have lost 90% of the great fishes, Marlin, Tuna and Snapper."

Professor Hilborn stated "The 90% of big fish gone claim" came out of a paper in 2003 by Myers and Worm. There have been something like 6 rebuttals of this paper published, including two of particular relevance to Australia. The basic approach used in the 2003 paper is totally flawed."

In the June addition of the science journal "Fish" that is funded by the Australian Government's Department of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries, Professor Ray Hilborn is quoted as saying "What the doom-and-gloomer will say is that you cannot successfully manage fisheries without marine protected areas and that is clearly wrong. There are many successfully managed fisheries including areas that have never been overfished - and they do not use marine protected areas."

Keith Douglas states that Bob Brown and Peter Garrett are out of step with the experts and as a result they are causing anxiety for tens of thousands of hard working people. Australians deserve a government that is prepared to make decisions for the good of the environment and not for political gain.

Mr. Douglas concludes "Larissa Waters, the Greens Senate candidate for Queensland does not deserve voter support if her Party and Leader are so out of touch on such an important issue.

ENDS

Keith Douglas
Senate Candidate
Mobile: 0419 650 091
Email: keithdouglas@fishingandlifestyle.com
Website: www.fishingandlifestyle.com

"There is no credible scientific evidence to suggest that marine parks are anything more than a hypothetical solution to a non-existent problem." – DR WALTER STARCK.

Authorised by Robert Erskine 51 Mulgrave Rd., Cairns QLD 4870