Cairns actress joins ocean debate
ACTRESS and conservationist Isabel Lucas supports rezoning the Coral Sea as a marine park, saying it would provide a "wonderful ocean legacy".
While opponents say rezoning the Coral Sea would cost hundreds of jobs, Lucas says the time for compromise has passed.
"Protecting the Coral Sea as one very large marine park would be a wonderful ocean legacy for future generations in Cairns," she told The Weekend Post.
"I believe in compromises and understand that change can feel threatening, but how can we suggest a compromise when there is the fact that 90 per cent of the world’s ocean fish have disappeared in the last 50 years and when at the current rate of overfishing, it is forecast that global fisheries will collapse in less than another 50 years?
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett last month proposed one million sq km of the Coral Sea be declared a
marine park.
Ms Lucas said the proposal was "inspirational".
"It’s an iconic place, with beautiful coral reefs and healthy populations of marlin, tuna and sharks – fish that are under so much pressure elsewhere," she said.
Mr Garrett last week deferred the proposal until after the election. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said he would put a freeze on all marine parks.
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Future: Known for her anti-whaling stance in the past, actress Isabel Lucas, of Cairns, has lent her support to a marine park proposal for the Coral Sea.
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