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Monday, 27 February 2012
Page: 952

Commonwealth South-West Marine Parks

(Question No. 1488)

Senator Cormann asked the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, upon notice, on 12 December 2011:

In regard to the proposed Commonwealth South-West Marine Parks:

(1) Given that in October 2011 a document entitled 'Revised SW Network September 2011' was discovered, are the proposed boundaries on that map the Commonwealth's proposed boundaries.

(2) Is it correct that when the current marine planning process is finished, Australia will have more sanctuaries that the rest of the world combined.

(3) Can the Minister provide the relevant scientific data on which these new proposed marine park areas have been based.

(4) Can the Minister provide the submissions received from the consultation process so that it is possible to assess the basis on which the submissions provide a sound basis for creating new national marine parks.

Senator Conroy: The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

In regard to the proposed Commonwealth South-West marine reserves:

(1) The document referred to by the Senator does not represent the boundaries for the proposed South-west marine reserves network.

(2) Australia is one of many countries establishing marine reserves, also known as marine protected areas, to meet commitments made by the Howard Government at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and to meet obligations that Australia has as signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Australia ' s marine reserves and their zoning have not been finalised. Therefore, it is not possible to compare the size and extent of the sanctuaries zones within the Australian system with what exists or is proposed in other countries.

(3) The reserve design is based on the Goals and Principles for the Establishment of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) in Commonwealth waters, which were finalised in 2007 by the Howard Government, drawing on lessons learnt through the earlier development of marine reserves in the South-East region.

Key inputs into the process include:

existing scientific information underlying the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA v.4.0) (e.g. bathymetry, geomorphic features, distribution of endemic biota)

additional regional information on habitats, species distribution and ecology gathered during the marine bioregional planning process

data on the location and distribution of human activities in a marine region

views of ocean users and stakeholders in each marine region

consideration of the contribution that existing spatial management measures can make to the NRSMPA and

consideration of potential management effectiveness (e.g. feasibility of compliance).

The department ' s website has a list of online datasets that have been used in developing marine bioregional plans. The list includes datasets from CSIRO and Geosciences Australia. The Goals and Principles for the Establishment of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas in Commonwealth Waters are also on the department ' s website.

(4) The formal consultation period invited submissions on a marine reserve proposal released by Government. The submissions received are being considered in revising the network. Where individuals and organisations have agreed, their submissions will be made publicly available. It is anticipated that this will occur early in 2012.