Marine reserves
Commonwealth marine reserves
The Australian Government is developing marine reserves in Commonwealth waters as part of Australia's marine bioregional planning process. New reserves networks have now been proposed around the country.
Proposed Commonwealth marine reserves network
Once finalised, they will form the Commonwealth waters component of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). The Australian states and the Northern Territory are also pursuing identification of marine reserves within their coastal waters under their own legislation and processes as part of the NRSMPA.
The Australian Government is seeking to represent the many different marine ecosystems (habitats and the marine life they support) within the national network of Commonwealth marine reserves.
As a developed nation with a maritime area larger than the continent itself, Australia has a special responsibility for the conservation and management of our marine and coastal environments and our living marine resources. Our vast ocean area supports one of the greatest arrays of marine biodiversity on earth.
Australia's oceans contain more than 4,000 species of fish and tens of thousands of species of invertebrates, plants and micro-organisms. From the spectacular coral reefs of Australia's tropical north to the majestic kelp forests of the temperate south, the number of newly discovered species tends to increase with each scientific survey. Currently scientists estimate about 80 percent of our marine species in southern waters occur nowhere else in the world.
What we know
Research efforts in Australia have primarily focussed on terrestrial biodiversity, and we know much more about wildlife on land than we do about what lives in our oceans. Many marine ecosystems are also poorly understood, although information on marine species and their habitats is improving.
The growing body of scientific knowledge about Australia's unique marine environment shows that it contains:
- the world's largest areas and highest species diversity of tropical and temperate seagrasses
- some of the largest areas of coral reefs
- the highest diversity of mangrove species
- exceptional levels of biodiversity for a wide range of marine invertebrates
- very high numbers of species found nowhere else other than our temperate and sub-Antarctic waters.
There is growing awareness of the fundamental importance of healthy and productive ocean environments to human economies, food supply and wellbeing. However, increasing threats to the marine environment are decreasing the abundance of species targeted by commercial industries and causing habitat loss and ecosystem degradation.
Marine reserves are not the solution for every threat to the marine environment and are not being pursued as a way of managing the impacts of activities such as commercial fishing and petroleum development. However, marine reserves do make an important contribution to sustaining the overall health and resilience of our marine environment.
Identifying new marine reserves
Development of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) was agreed by all Australian governments in 1998. Identification of the marine reserves is being guided by the Goals and Principles for the Establishment of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas in Commonwealth Waters (also described in detail in the Bioregional Profiles for the South-west, North-west, North, and East Marine Regions).
Consistent with the Goals and Principles, the government's objective in developing the new networks of representative marine reserves is to ensure robust conservation outcomes while seeking to minimise adverse impacts on users of the marine environment. The general approach is to design new marine reserves that, where possible, avoid areas highly valued by industry groups and recreational users while at the same time meeting conservation outcomes.
Large parts of the new marine reserves will be zoned to allow a range of uses to continue as long as they are consistent with the primary objective of protecting the conservation values of the reserves. Highly protected zones will be included in the network of new marine reserves. These zones will be managed to preserve the area in an undisturbed and unmodified condition, so extractive activities will not be permitted in these zones.
The Australian Government has no targets that must be met when designing the marine reserve network or the area of highly protected zones. However, the network of Commonwealth marine reserves that is identified through the marine bioregional planning process is intended to fully represent Australia's marine biodiversity. The Goals and Principles provide direction on how to ensure that all types of ecosystems and biodiversity are represented within the national network of marine reserves including Australia's 41 provincial bioregions (large areas containing broadly similar ecosystems), oceans depths, marine habitats and seafloor features (such as undersea canyons and seamounts).
More information about the current status of proposed marine reserves networks around Australia is outlined within the information provided on each marine region in our marine bioregional planning program.
About marine bioregional planning
Marine bioregional planning is being implemented in five large marine regions.