Mark, with respect, the negotiation of artificial reefs as compensation as part of the Labor green zones in the MBMP was the ONLY TIME recreational anglers have got ANY sort of compensation for losing valuable fishing areas to politically motivated green zones.
It was a first in Australia and possibly worldwide and set the precedent that its is not only the commercial sector that deserves compensation for loss of access.
Those of us involved worked long hours and negotiated hard on behalf of rec anglers to get this result. We didn't want green zones, they were forced on us. We would rather have had no green zones. But that wasn't going to happen. Green politics saw to that.
Would you rather we had got nothing??
I am really hoping that what you meant was that developing artificial reef programs should not be contingent on losing areas to green zones. I would agree with that.
Grant