The Federal Government has officially proclaimed the world's largest set of marine environment parks and reserves, with Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, saying 2.3 million square kilometres of ocean are now protected.

 

"Australia is a world leader when it comes to protecting our oceans, and so we should be, we've got responsibility for more of the ocean than almost any other country on Earth," Mr Burke said.

 

"Australia is home to some incredible marine environments including the Perth Canyon in the south-west and the stunning reefs of the Coral Sea and this announcement cements Australia's position as a world leader on environmental protection.

 

"Following consultation, the Director of National Parks prepared a report on the comments received and I have considered these in making my recommendation to the Governor General that the proposed reserves be declared.

 

"Of the 80,000 submissions received, the vast majority of submissions were supportive of the Government's plan to create the world's largest network of marine parks.

 

"The declaration of these new marine reserves delivers on an election commitment and represents a major achievement for the long term conservation and sustainable use of Australia's oceans.

 

Existing management arrangements for former reserves, or areas subsumed into new reserves, will remain in place until the new management plans come into effect.

 

New marine reserves have been proclaimed in five of Australia's six large marine regions. The reserves in the South-east region were proclaimed in 2007.

 

The regions are:

 

The Coral Sea Region is the jewel in the crown of the marine parks network and covers an area of more than half the size of Queensland. It supports critical nesting sites for the green turtle and is renowned for its diversity of big predatory fish and sharks. The network includes protection for all reefs in the Coral Sea with the final proposal adding iconic reefs such as top dive site Osprey Reef, Marion Reef, Bougainville Reef, Vema Reef, and Shark Reef as marine national parks.

 

The South-west Marine Region which extends from South Australia to Shark Bay in Western Australia is of global significance as a breeding and feeding ground for a number of protected marine species such as southern right whales, blue whales and the Australian Sea Lion. Features in the South-West region include the Perth Canyon – an underwater area bigger than the Grand Canyon – and the Diamantina Fracture Zone – a large underwater mountain chain which includes Australia's deepest water.

 

The Temperate East Marine Region which runs from the southern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to Bermagui in southern New South Wales, and includes the waters surrounding Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. It is home to the critically endangered east coast population of grey nurse shark, the vulnerable white shark and has important offshore reef habitat at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs and Lord Howe Island that support the threatened black cod.

 

The North Marine Region which includes the Commonwealth waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Arafura Sea and the Timor Sea extending as far west as the Northern Territory-Western Australian border. Globally important foraging and resting areas for threatened marine turtle species including flatback, hawksbill, green and olive ridley turtles will be protected. So too will important foraging areas for breeding colonies of migratory seabirds and large aggregations of dugongs.

 

The North-west Marine Region which stretches from the Western Australian-Northern Territory border through to Kalbarri, south of Shark Bay in Western Australia, is home to the whale shark, the world's largest fish, and provides protection to the world's largest population of humpback whales that migrate annually from Antarctica to give birth in the water off the Kimberley.

 

The South-east Marine Region which extends from the far south coast of New South Wales, around Tasmania and to South Australia. It includes the Commonwealth waters of Bass Strait and waters surrounding Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean. Significant variations in water depth and sea-floor features found throughout the South-east Marine Region contribute to the high level of species diversity in the region. The threatened southern right whale and other migratory species, such as southern bluefin tuna, great white sharks and the wandering albatross travel through the South-east Marine Region on their long journeys across the ocean.

For more information, go to www.environment.gov.au/marinereserves