Some of you may have heard about the innovative ‘Cat Tracker’ project run by the University of South Australia. The project tracks the movement of pet cats and interviews their owners in order to learn about the roaming behaviours of pet cats and to help cat owners make decisions about their care and welfare.
Contrary to recent public statements by the state government and others, the permits for the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill have not been revoked. But the process to revoke them has started.
From here it seems certain that the permits will eventually be revoked, but we will be following this process to make absolutely certain.
The number of tourists coming to Tasmania per year has increased by a whopping 31% over the last four years, from 961,600 in the year to June 2013 to 1.26 million in the year to June 2016 (Tourism Tasmania figures), and expenditure has grown by even more. But the number of people employed in tourism has hardly changed in those four years.
The Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania (PMAT) was officially launched in July 2017. PMAT is a network of 50 community groups from across Tasmania, campaigning for a strategic, sustainable and integrated planning system which will serve to protect the values that makes Tasmania such a special place to live and visit.
A 2005 Department of Primary Industries and Water report, The Distribution and Abundance of Fallow Deer in the Central Plateau Conservation Area and adjacent areas in Tasmania, confirmed the occasional presence of deer within the Central Plateau Conservation Area (CPCA). This area falls within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA).
One would expect that the quality of the experience that visitors have at tourist attractions and while undertaking tourist activities would be a key factor in driving demand and keep people returning to the state. However, the Tasmanian Tourism industry has inadequate measures of the visitor experience.
Urban sprawl creates unsustainable cities and towns that destroy local habitats and ecosystems, increase carbon emissions and energy consumption, and contribute to poverty, isolation and poor health in communities. Addressing housing affordability through the planning system can help create neighbourhoods that are spatially efficient, well-connected and well-serviced. These neighbourhoods have a lower carbon footprint and require less energy consumption to build, maintain and use. Neighbourhoods with affordable housing options have the potential be to more socially and environmentally sustainable, helping to minimise the impact of cities and towns on both the local and global environment.
Article by Melinda Morris, University of Tasmania
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.
