Marine Bioregional Planning

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 Marine 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.

Marine Bioregional Planning Regions

Click on a region for more information.

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:

What's new

South-west Bioregion profile

Key

Links to another web site
Opens a pop-up window

Coasts and oceans