• Change text size
• Skip to content

Marine Protected Areas

Search:

• About us
• Contact us

• Home
  • Atmosphere
  • Biodiversity
  • Coasts and marine
  • Heritage
  • Human settlements
  • Land
  • Living sustainably
  • Parks Australia
  • Water
  • EPBC Act

• Coasts and marine
  • Marine bioregional planning
    • About MBP
    • Staying up to date
    • South-west
    • North-west
    • North
    • Coral Sea
    • Temperate East
    • South-east
    • Marine reserves

• Marine protected areas
  • South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserves
  • National Representative System of MPAs
    • IMCRA
    • National Marine Bioregionalisation

• • Marine pollution
    • Marine debris
    • Marine pests
    • Sea Dumping
  • Fisheries and the environment
    • Open for public comment
    • Commonwealth managed fisheries
    • NSW managed fisheries
    • NT managed fisheries
    • QLD managed fisheries
    • SA managed fisheries
    • TAS managed fisheries
    • VIC managed fisheries
    • WA managed fisheries
  • Great Barrier Reef
  • International activities
  • Marine species
    • Whales, dolphins and porpoises
    • Dugongs
    • Marine invertebrates
    • Marine turtles
    • Seals and sea lions
    • Sharks
    • Publications & resources
  • Publications and resources

National coordination

The Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas Program helps to coordinate the establishment of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) across Australia's Commonwealth, State and Territory jurisdictions.

Each jurisdiction has its own laws and processes for establishing and managing marine protected areas. The Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory have developed independent processes for establishing representative systems of marine protected areas in the marine areas for which they are responsible.

The Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas Program continues to support the following initiatives that help to coordinate processes for establishing and managing marine protected areas nationally.

The national framework for establishing the NRSMPA comprises:

• The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia Version 4 (IMCRA)
• Guidelines for Establishing the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas
• Strategic Plan of Action for the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas Working Group

The Marine Protected Areas Working Group is the only national committee that enables the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to coordinate the development of policy and planning related to the establishment of the NRSMPA.

The Working Group is a supporting subsidiary body of the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC). Members of the Working Group are from Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies responsible for marine conservation and fisheries management. The Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas Program provides secretariat support for the Working Group.

Since 1992 the Working Group and its predecessors have coordinated the development of nationally agreed planning and policy frameworks and technical matters (e.g. bioregional assessments) associated with developing the NRSMPA. It is however the responsibility of each jurisdiction to establish marine protected areas within waters under their control.

On 16 May 1992 government ministers of the of the (then) Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council resolved to establish a National Advisory Committee on Marine Protected Areas to co-ordinate the development of a national system of representative marine protected areas and to provide a mechanism for Commonwealth, State and Territory governments to exchange information and expertise. This Committee later became the Task Force on Marine Protected Areas, and later the Working Group on Marine Protected Areas and its terms of reference were revised to focus on the development and implementation of national framework for establishing the NRSMPA.

• List of Commonwealth, State and Northern Territory government agencies responsible for marine protected areas

Key achievements

• The development and implementation of a national framework for establishing the NRSMPA
• Enhancing the capacity of jurisdictions to overcome difficulties associated with policy development and the identification, selection and management of marine protected areas, leading to an acceleration of marine protected area declaration programs.