Marine Protected Areas

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PDF file

• Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) management plan 2005-2012 (PDF - 878 KB)

About this management plan

This management plan applies to the area managed by the Australian Government, which was proclaimed in 1998 as the 'Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters)' and is referred to as 'the Park' in this management plan. The Park contains two of the four zones of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park: the Marine Mammal Protection Zone and the Benthic Protection Zone.

The Park is a Commonwealth reserve under the EPBC Act. The Act (s.367) requires a management plan for a Commonwealth reserve to specify or indicate, among other things:

• any limitation or prohibition on the exercise of a power or performance of a function under an Act in or in relation to the reserve
• any operation or activity that may be carried on in the reserve
• generally the activities that are to be prohibited or regulated in the reserve and the means of prohibiting or regulating them.

A management plan is an essential part of the effective regulation of the Park. It is the only way to allow a range of uses of the Park that would otherwise be prohibited by the EPBC Act under ss.354 and 355 (see Section 2.3 of this Management Plan).

This is the second management plan for the Park. The first management plan lasted for five years.