As industry leaders meet in Sydney for the inaugural Global Nature Positive Summit, Australia’s key waterway restoration charity, OzFish, says that empowering all people in Australia to “pitch in” with restoring our natural environments is key to a nature positive future.
OzFish CEO Cassie Price said, “We believe the most complex challenges can be solved when people come together – and get to work. We know that Aussies love the ocean, and their rivers and creeks, and are very connected to them. Governments must work together, with business, to give all people the tools and opportunities to pitch in and improve the waterways they love.”
The Global Nature Positive Summit, held in Sydney this week, aims to boost private sector investment in environmental restoration and protection. OzFish Founder Craig Copeland spoke at the summit on ecosystems regeneration.
OzFish are calling for more focus on restoration of the thousands of hectares of lost – and still declining – native fish habitats across Australia.
Ms. Price said, “We need to see all levels of government, and private business, support community-based organisations to help achieve the scale of restoration needed for truly nature-positive results in Australia. The sheer scale of the task ahead to reverse the losses of fish habitat over the past 120 years is only one that can be achieved by including every Australian.”
OzFish currently receives sponsorship from major partner, BCF, and fishing industry organisations to restore fish habitats, and encourages other companies to invest in community conservation across Australia.
“We’re providing opportunities for 4.5 million recreational fishers in Australia to make a positive impact on their local waterways and fish populations. Every pair of hands, every action someone takes, contributes towards a collective step in the right direction.”
Last year, OzFish supported fishers and other volunteers to contribute 40,000 hours into improving Australia’s waterways. This included removing 13 tonnes of rubbish from Australia’s beaches and rivers, regenerating 6.7 hectares of seagrass meadow and using 208 tonnes of shell diverted from landfill to help restore over 29 hectares of shellfish reef.
The Restoration Decade Alliance (RDA), of which OzFish is a member, recently released a position statement warning that Australia has only six years left to restore ecosystems, prevent biodiversity collapse and catastrophic climate change.
Media
To learn more, or arrange an interview with OzFish CEO Cassie Price or OzFish Founder Craig Copeland, email media@ozfish.org.au or call +61 490 783 417.
About us:
About OzFish
OzFish is a not-for-profit member organisation that partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of waterways, counteracting decades of degradation with projects in habitat restoration, re-snagging, riverbank planting, clean-ups, fishways, shellfish reefs and educational and community capacity building programs. www.ozfish.org.au, to learn more, or become a member.
About Reflections Holidays
The largest holiday park group in New South Wales and the only one that is a certified social enterprise, Reflections Holidays is a Crown Land manager that operates 40 holiday parks, camping grounds and unique accommodation in coastal and inland NSW. Reflections reinvests profits back into its parks and 45 nature reserves spanning almost 25,000 acres across the State, which it cares for on behalf of NSW communities.
Contact details:
To learn more, or arrange an interview with OzFish CEO Cassie Price or OzFish Founder Craig Copeland, email media@ozfish.org.au or call +61 490 783 417.
