16/02/2024
We need all the help we can get to remove the nets from the NT. Like, share and please spend the few minutes it takes to be heard.
On 1 February, the day the barramundi gillnet fishery began its 2024 season, the leading voices for marine conservation sent a letter to the NT Minister for Agribusiness and Fisheries, Mark Monaghan MLA: Member for Fong Lim demanding immediate action to protect threatened, endangered and protected species (TEPS), including dugong, turtle, dolphins and sawfish.
Keep Top End Coasts Healthy joined the Environment Centre NT, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, and Humane Society International expressing our deep concern with the critical flaws in the current management strategies that fail to protect these species from the detrimental impacts of commercial gillnetting in Territory waters.
Since this date, matters have gotten worse for these threatened species with gillnet pressure being concentrated into fewer areas, including the two areas identified to be the most important to protect these animals; Van Diemen Gulf and the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria.
We demand urgent and meaningful action to protect our threatened species, thereby securing not only the biodiversity of our waters but also the cultural and socio-economic fabric of the Northern Territory which depends on healthy Top End coasts.
Protecting our TEPS from gillnets isn't just necessary; it's our responsibility to these precious animals and for future generations.
You can read our letter here: www.topendcoasts.org.au/protect_threatened_species_from_gillnets
