Marine Bioregional Planning
Information for stakeholders
Marine Bioregional Plans are currently underway for each of Australia's five marine regions. Each region is up to a different stage of the planning process. To view timelines, contacts and a stakeholder consultation outline refer to the document below.
Marine Bioregional Profiles
The Australian Government's marine bioregional planning program has reached another milestone with the release of the North Marine Bioregional Plan Bioregional Profile and the North-west Marine Bioregional Plan Bioregional Profile.
Australia's world-leading program of regional marine planning has been brought directly under federal environment law to provide a clearer focus on conservation and sustainable management of the marine environment and offer greater certainty for industry.
The Australian Government has brought its program of regional marine planning under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).
Under the new approach, regional marine plans will be established under section 176 of the EPBC Act, acting as a key document to guide the Minister, sectoral managers and industry about the key conservation issues and priorities in each marine region.
The initiative will see Marine Bioregional Plans, including a system of newMarine Protected Areas (MPAs), established over Australia's 14 million square kilometre ocean jurisdiction, in 5 Marine Regions. These are the South-east, South-west, North-west, North and East Marine Regions.
The plans will draw on Australia's growing marine science and socio-economic information base to provide a detailed picture of each marine region. Each plan will describe a region's key habitats, plants and animals; natural processes; human uses and benefits; and threats to the long-term ecological sustainability of the region. The plans will give details about the various statutory obligations under the EPBC Act that apply in any region, and will describe Government’s range of conservation measures in place, such as those relating to recovery planning for threatened species.
These new bioregional plans will also provide the platform for developing a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) in Commonwealth waters around Australia.
More information on the new approach to regional marine planning:
- Establishing new Marine Protected Areas through Marine Bioregional Planning
- Input from stakeholders
- Marine Bioregional Planning: A new focus for Australia’s marine planning
What's new
MPA Video
Take a tour of Australia's Marine Protected Areas with this video introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.
See also
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