Politics and science, instead of being like oil and water, have become a murky emulsion. Which is maybe why the latest scientific findings about West Australian fisheries were announced by a bureaucrat and not a politician. These days little of any political benefit misses a minister's lips. So when a very positive environmental report is released by a relatively junior departmental scientist, it's a sign to take notice.
Apparently, Fisheries Minister Norman Moore didn't make the announcement because there is substantial disagreement within the Barnett troops over Canberra's push for more fishing sanctuaries in WA waters, with some in Cabinet keen to play the issue to increase their green credentials.
Last week, the WA Fisheries Department's acting director of research, Dan Gaughan, released a press statement that will be absolutely central to the negotiations between the Barnett and Gillard governments over locking up more local fisheries.
Dr Gaughan announced the findings of a $576,510, five-year study by the department in conjunction with Murdoch University that amounted to a report card on WA's fisheries.
"The researchers found no evidence to suggest that fishing activity was having any major impact on the aquatic food chain within the State's four marine bioregions," Dr Gaughan said. "The study found that, although species composition of catches has changed, there had been no detectable change in the food chains that underpin healthy ecosystems in the State's four bioregions. "On the contrary, the research reveals that overall food chains are stable in each of those bioregions, which suggests that, at least at the bioregion level in WA, reports about ‘fishing down the food web' are highly exaggerated."
Hang about. Haven't we been told relentlessly that our fisheries are under threat of over-exploitation?
Isn't the rock lobster industry on its last legs? Isn't the Gillard Government trying to impose a new regime of marine sanctuaries on WA's commercial and recreational fishers? Well, yes. But if you let an emulsion of oil and water stand long enough, it might just separate.
Pushed by a group of greenies called Save Our Marine Life, Canberra is supporting a new series of fishing exclusion zones between Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Shark Bay.
The campaign is fed by green rhetoric, not science.
Read the complete opinion piece from The West Australian.