Marine Parks and the Decline of Australian Seafood: Time to Rethink Our Priorities

Australia’s vast ocean territory has long been a source of pride — rich in marine life and home to a fishing industry that’s provided sustainable, high-quality seafood to generations of Australians. Yet, over the past two decades, we’ve seen access to these waters dramatically reduced through the expansion of marine parks, often with little regard for the broader consequences to the public, our seafood supply, and the hardworking communities who depend on responsible fishing.

Locking Up Our Oceans — With No Clear Public Benefit

While marine parks are often promoted as a conservation win, the reality for Australian seafood consumers is far more complex. A significant portion of our once-productive waters are now locked up in no-take zones — areas where even small-scale, sustainable commercial fishing is banned. These closures have removed access to local, wild-caught seafood with no clear benefit to the Australian public.

This top-down approach has become increasingly ideological. In fact, during recent budget estimates, a Greens party member asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry whether she would be implementing any new marine parks “to protect the fish from the hot water.” This statement — framed as policy — reveals the absurdity and detachment of the ideology driving some of these decisions. Marine parks are now being suggested not to manage fishing, but to somehow insulate fish from climate change, which they clearly cannot do. This kind of thinking undermines genuine science-based management and disrespects the public’s need for access to local food sources.

Trading Aussie Seafood for Imports Tied to Human Rights Abuses

As we restrict access to our own waters, the supply of local seafood has shrunk. The result? More than 70% of the seafood Australians now consume is imported, with over a quarter coming from Southeast Asia — a region where fishery regulation is minimal and where serious concerns about illegal fishing and human rights abuses have been raised.

It’s a cruel irony. By sidelining local fishers operating under some of the world’s most rigorous sustainability standards, we’ve increased our reliance on seafood caught under questionable conditions. This shift does nothing to improve marine ecosystems — and worse, it shifts the environmental and ethical burden to other countries, out of sight and out of mind.

Marine Parks vs Fisheries Management: Where’s the Evidence?

Despite years of political momentum behind marine parks, there remains no compelling evidence that they outperform Australia’s already strong fisheries management in delivering sustainable seafood outcomes. In fact, most of Australia’s wild-caught fisheries are considered sustainable by international standards — and have been for years, thanks to measures like quotas, size limits, and seasonal closures.

Marine parks may help fish stocks recover where overfishing has occurred, but in well-managed waters like ours, the additional ecological benefits are often negligible, especially when it comes at the cost of food production. Yet, governments continue to pour millions into expanding marine parks while offering no credible evidence that they deliver better outcomes than smart fisheries management.

Public Access to Local, Sustainable Seafood Matters

The conversation around marine parks has too often ignored one critical group: the Australian public. As more fishing grounds are closed under ideological conservation schemes, Australians are losing access to the very seafood we’ve always enjoyed — local, fresh, and sustainably harvested.

This isn’t just about fish. It’s about food security, sovereignty, and choice. Australians should have the right to eat food that’s caught under local, accountable, and world-class environmental standards — not be forced to buy cheap, imported seafood from countries with little to no regulation.

It’s time the government recognised the impact these policies are having on the public’s right to access locally and sustainably caught seafood. Marine parks should be based on genuine ecological need, not ideological whims. They should complement — not undermine — the strong, science-backed fisheries management Australia already has in place.

We Need Balance — Not Bureaucracy

Australia can lead the world in both marine conservation and sustainable seafood production — but only if we pursue balance, not bureaucracy. The absurdity of protecting fish from “hot water” with park boundaries shows just how far this conversation has drifted from reality.

Let’s return to common sense. Let’s support the people who feed us. And let’s ensure that marine protection doesn’t come at the cost of public access, local industry, and global ethics.