Original air date - A Question of Balance :: 7:30pm 27th Feb 2018

Seeking Sanctuary: Martin Puchert, from the Underwater Research Group (URG), examines the health of marine life in Sydney waters and argues the case for setting up a Sydney-wide marine park. The region from Newcastle to Wollongong is an area of the NSW coast that doesn't have a marine park. Less than 1% of that coastline is protected from fishing. Scientific recommendations are generally that at least 30% of each marine habitat should be protected. Sydney alone has over 5 million people. Fishing restrictions are based on bag limits per person, which conscientious fishers follow, but if everyone in Sydney took their bag limit there would be no fish very quickly. This problem can't be seen from the surface. Divers can appreciate the problem, and can easily see positive differences where fishing is not allowed.