The long-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) is on the verge of a population explosion that will see it cause lifeless ‘barrens’ in the biodiverse reef habitats across large areas of Tasmania’s east coast.

Large rock lobsters are the only effective natural predator of sea urchins, but overfishing has left to few of them to be an effective control in many areas. Critically, lobsters need to be substantially larger than the legal size before they can flip the urchins on their back and open up their soft underside. The legal catch size is 110 mm for males and 105 mm for females but lobsters need to be at least 140 mm to kill a mature urchin.

The Editor
The Mercury

The Hobart City Council General Manager Nick Heath said in the Mercury on 25 July 2017 that the council had received a letter from the proponent for the Mount Wellington Cable Car but no application. Councillor Damon Thomas said in the same article that there was an application but it was deficient.

9 August 2017

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust today called on the Planning Minister Peter Gutwein to rule out using new ‘major projects’ powers to fast-track the approval of the Fragrance Tower, that is proposed for 28-30 Davey Street in Hobart.

Letter to the editor
The Mercury

Rules to control skyscrapers
There has been a great deal of comment about the Fragrance Group's skyscrapers proposed for Hobart but little debate about solutions.

Peter Gutwein repeatedly criticises TasWater for providing third-world drinking water and sewage management. The minister repeats the same few statistics as if they prove TasWater is a failed institution and the only solution is for him to take it over.

A closer look at the minister’s statistics shows that he has seriously misled us.

The TCT said today that while there are many positive aspects of the Tasmanian Cat Management Plan, released yesterday, it is highly disappointing that the state government has decided to not legislate for compulsory confinement of pet cats. Instead, the government intends leaving it to each council to implement local by-laws if they want to have powers to confine pet cats...

Letter to the Editor
The Mercury

The Property Council's Brian Wightman has proclaimed majority support for the Government's take-over of TasWater (Mercury, 13 May 2017). But the question people were asked in the ReachTel survey is both inaccurate and biased.

The state government has finalised its State Planning Provisions. The SPP will then come into force at a municipal level as each local council’s Local Provisions are approved by the Minister for Planning, Peter Gutwein. This may not happen until early 2018 and there is a chance that the government’s proposed ‘single state-wide planning scheme’ will not be in place in any municipality before the election is called.

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from people wishing to write an evidence-based critique or essay on a conservation related issue relevant to Tasmania. The article will be 900 to 1200 words on an important issue which currently gets inadequate coverage and debate, or a new perspective on a prominent issue.

Tasmanian needs a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine protected areas right now. With Tasmania’s marine environment under pressure from climate change, fishing and aquaculture, the need for a good system of marine protected areas (MPAs) has never been greater.

On 3 February 2017 Norske Skog’s Forest Certification Coordinator Michael Schofield took me on a field trip to two sites on the company’s forest estate in the Derwent Valley, one near Lake Repulse and the other next to the Tyenna River near Maydena. Although fairly informal, this was part of the company’s annual Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) stakeholder consultation. Norske received FSC certification in 2011.