THE BYRON SHIRE Volume 25 #48 Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,000 copies every week
Billycart Derby page 16-17
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CAB AUDIT
Marine scientist slams Ecofishers
Wategos turns on for Malibu Classic
Ken Thurlow accused of ‘misrepresenting facts’ on marine park science Ray Moynihan
You couldn’t have written a script for better conditions for the 31st annual Byron Bay Malibu Classic, held at Wategos beach over the weekend. The event is one of the only remaining single-fin competitions, and draws competitors from all over Australia. Apart from the open categories, competitors hung five and ten in the over 30, 40, 50, 55, 60 and 65s, as well as juniors. Pictured is John Keevers, and as a descendant of the Watego family, used his home turf advantage to take third place in the Big Boy event. See more Malibu action on the sport pages. Photo Tree Faerie.
Triathlon win for Lennox’s Lampe Story & photo Eve Jeffery
Lennox Head triathlete Joey Lampe put his stamp all over the event when he won every leg of the Byron Bay Triathlon held on Saturday in conditions writers wax lyrical about. After an excellent swim Joey, 22, exited the water well ahead of rival Aaron Royle in the hope of getting a good head start on the cycle specialist. Lampe kept up the pace and won the ride then started the running course with a clear lead, though he says he wasn’t immediately confident. ‘Aaron is fast on the bike so I wanted to get well ahead of him,’ said Lampe after the race. ‘When I got off the bike I was still a bit scared he might catch up. The pressure was still on. I pretty much knew I had it when I was seven and a half kilometres into the run’. Lampe won the event easily in 1.45.25 ahead of Royle who came in
over five minutes later. This win was the third try at this for Lampe, but a back-to-back win was the hope of Lisa Marangon from Sydney who returned to the Bay to defend her title. After a good swim, Lisa made up ground and beat the
front runner on the bike, only to be overtaken again in the run. The winner for the women was world 15th ranked Felicity Abram from the Gold Coast, with a time of one hour, 57 minutes and nine seconds. Q More results in the sport pages
An internationally published marine scientist has strongly attacked Ken Thurlow, the Byron-based chief executive of the group Ecofishers which is campaigning to wind back no-fishing zones in marine parks. Last week Mr Thurlow claimed the science behind the state’s marine parks was ‘rubbery’ and also claimed that a scientific report on the Cape Byron park had been described by ‘scientific experts’ as an ‘insult to science and the local community’. However, the author of that report, associate professor Stephen Smith from Southern Cross University, hit back, telling The Echo that in his opinion Mr Thurlow either doesn’t understand the science, or is blatantly misrepresenting it. The war of words comes as the new coalition government is about to launch a review of marine park science, an initiative which has been strongly pushed by the recreational fishers. Asked whether Ecofishers were in fact the driving force behind the government’s review, the Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson told The Echo, ‘they may well have been’. As to whether the review would ultimately reduce the size of no-fishing zones, as predicted by Mr Thurlow, the Minister said, ‘we’ll have to wait and see. I’m not going to pre-empt the scientific audit.’ During a parliamentary inquiry on recreational fishing last year, Ken Thurlow forcefully attacked the credibility of Stephen Smith’s scientific report on the plants and animals of the rocky shores around Byron. Mr Thurlow repeatedly told a parliamentary inquiry hearing that sci-
entists had only spent four half-hour sessions examining habitats. In fact the report makes clear the scientists undertook almost forty half-hour examinations, not four. Moreover the report involved two weeks of field work and took three months to complete. Similarly Mr Thurlow told the parliamentary inquiry the report contained ‘no comparative data’, yet the report clearly includes extensive comparisons. ‘He’s completely misrepresented the facts and integrity’ of the work, says the report’s author Stephen Smith, based at the National Marine Science Centre, part of Southern Cross University. Another SCU marine scientist, and former member of the advisory group to the Cape Byron marine park, Amanda Reichelt-Brushett, said Stephen Smith’s work has ‘helped contribute to the increasing understanding of the biodiversity’ of this unique area. While noting that all scientific studies have limitations, she described Ken Thurlow’s attempts to undermine the report on the marine park as ‘misinformed.’ Controversy over the size and placing of the sanctuary zones which prohibit fishing is at least a decade old, but has recently resurfaced as conservation and fishing groups jockey to influence the terms of reference for the imminent scientific audit and the membership of the panel which will run it. The Echo endeavoured several times to ask Mr Thurlow a series of questions about his comments on marine park science, and seek responses to Stephen Smith’s criticisms. However Mr Thurlow – who indicated he was busy at state parliament house in Sydney last week – was unavailable to answerThe Echo’s questions.
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