In a sign of the escalating pressure being applied to the industry, Calumets 15 Street fishery has been declared a National Marine Wildlife Reserve.
The area is home to a number of marine species including the iconic Calumett, a fish native to the region that was reintroduced to the North East in the 1980s.
The Department of Primary Industries said in a statement: “The National Marine Fisheries Reserve is a designation that recognises that some of the species of marine animals in Calumetts 15 Street are important and unique to this area, including the Calumettes, Calamans, Calanese and the Calamets.”
These marine animals are also vital for the health and wellbeing of the communities in Calumbrians North East.
“This designation will ensure that Calumette 15 Street is protected as a National Park and protected under the National Marine Park Act.”
It comes after a number, including a 15-year-old Calamet, were rescued from the sea by a fishing boat in 2015.
The fishery was established in 1973 and is home, among other things, to the Calampo and Calanoes, the largest of the Calaminos species.
In the early 1980s, the Department of Environment and Water Resources (DESY) launched a project to establish an 11-acre fish habitat to protect the Calanets, Calampos and Calamots.
The project included installing artificial coral reefs and a “solar garden” at the site.
In 2010, DESY declared the area to be a Marine Park.
But the project was not approved by the state government, and in 2015, the government’s marine policy review team said it did not support the project.
But in December last year, the National Parks and Wildlife Service announced the project would be approved.
The Fish and Wildlife Department said the new plan was aimed at helping to protect marine life in the region, which is home in part to a wide range of species including Calamos and the famous Calamettes.
But environmental groups and conservationists are urging the government to reconsider its decision.
“The Fish & Wildlife Department is taking its own advice about what it needs to do to protect these species.
And it’s going to have to take a long time to get through the approval process, given the scale of the issues we have with the proposed new marine reserve,” said Peter Rundle, an environmental campaigner with the Wildlife Conservation Society.”
There’s a lot of people out there who have concerns about the future of the marine reserves in Calametts 15 and they need to hear them.”