Marine Campaigner

5 Free Double Passes to Give Away This is your chance to attend South Australia's first screening of internationally acclaimed film, The End of the Line. The first five people to send me a message with their name & contact details will receive a free double pass.When: 2pm, Sunday 18th OctoberThis groundbreaking feature film documentary reveals the devastating impact of overfishing on the worlds oceans whilst offering a message of hope for the future. This special pre-release screening will feature a presentation and discussion forum on the benefits of marine parks in securing a healty fut

Just a quick update - the Rann Government released its submission on BHP's EIS last week. Its contains a large number of concerns regarding the proposed desalination plant at Point Lowly.Follow this link for more information:http://www.olympicdameis.sa.gov.au/html/submissions.cfm

You sure can.As well as being a concerned citizen, I literally am the Marine Campaigner for The Wilderness Society in SA. I'm not a member of any political party. As for technical expertise, I have a commercial law background.I'm not a rec fisher myself but many of my friends and family are, and I am an eater of sustainable seafood. Informal discussions with a number of spencer gulf prawn fishermen led me to wonder how the rec fishing community felt about the desal plant.How about yourself?I've read your dialogue with Andy Burnell from DEH on the marine parks thread, which from what I can te

I hope you're right Ranger. Note the ERD Committee has a cross-party constiutency i.e. Liberal, Labor, Green.See link to the committee's report below:www.parliament.sa.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/C84894BD-81FF-4C93-B18D-61C3700DE928/14354/64ReportDesalinationFinalPtBonython.pdfHappy reading!

Thanks for that Ranger, but don't rest easy just yet!!The ERD Committee's recommendation that BHP be required to look at alternative locations is a great start, but they are not the actual decision maker.The buck stops with the Minister and he is yet to make any comment on BHP's EIS. THe next step in the process is the release of a Supplementary EIS by BHP, expected later this year. The Government needs to make sure that in the interim, BHP puts some serious work into looking at alternative locations for the desalination plant.At this point in time, there is still every possibility that the G

Ranger wrote: Yes, BHP are required to submit an EIS however the study is undertaken by BHP and assessed by the State Government. In this sense, the EIS itself is not independent. The State Government has the power to approve or reject the BHP application, to place conditions on any approval or to require alternative plans. Those of us concerned by the proposed desalination plant at Point Lowly are insisting that BHP be required to assess alternative more suitable locations. Assessing other locations all in the Upper Spencer Gulf is not good enough. Because of the gulf’s high salin

The local community agrees, water and jobs are important, but not at the cost of irreperable environmental damage or damage to existing industries such as tourism and fisheries.See this website which details their concerns:http://www.savepointlowly.com.au/Committee/index.htmlPublic submissions on BHP's Environmental Impact Statement close this Friday 7 August. The Save Point Lowly coalition is asking people to join with them in raising concerns and has written a number of sample letters to get people started:http://www.savepointlowly.com.au/Committee/letterindex.html

You’re right - the experts do disagree, but let’s look at it objectively. On one side you have experts whose advice is funded by and written on behalf of BHP and on the other, truly independent advice from scientists with no pecuniary interest in the outcome. I know who I’d rather listen too. I understand why you might want cold hard proof before getting off that fence but science can never unequivocally prove ahead of time what the exact impacts of any particular development might be – models can give us some idea, but until the project is up and running, these

As part of its Olympic Dam expansion plans, BHP is planning to build a desalination plant at Point Lowly in the Upper Spencer Gulf. I know the prawn industry is very concerned about potential impacts from increased salinity, but I wonder how the recreational community feels?See this link to an online petition opposing the desal plant:https://secure.wilderness.org.au/cyberactivist/cyberactions/09_07_sa_marine-cyberaction.php?Maybe this is something fishers and conservationists can agree on for once?