Fact Sheet: Marine Parks

Marine parks are similar to national parks, however instead of protecting biologically important areas of land, marine parks protect biologically important areas of ocean and coastline. Marine parks are created to help conserve marine habitats and biodiversity, as well as cultural heritage values, while at the same time allowing for a range of activities including fishing, boating and tourism.

In Western Australia (WA), the State Government is progressively creating a representative system of marine parks and reserves in WA under the Conservation and Land Management Act (1984). The long-term goal is to provide protection for all types of marine habitats and biodiversity in WA using a system that is ‘comprehensive, adequate and representative’.

A precautionary approach

The intention of marine parks is to conserve and maintain healthy marine environments at their peak, rather than waiting until it is too late. Whilst WA’s coastal waters are among the healthiest on earth, the pressure on these areas is increasing with a growing population. This level of pressure can place a strain on any marine environment, even if each person is doing the right thing.

Marine parks are about conservation of entire areas and everything in them, not just the species of fish we like to catch and eat. They are places of refuge and can be designed to provide representative areas a chance to ‘breathe’ by limiting the removal of fish, plants, animals or habitat and maintaining them as natural as possible.

A balancing act

Some people assume that all marine parks are completely closed to fishing and other uses, however this is not the case. Marine parks provide for a range of recreational and commercial activities including fishing, diving, boating, recreation, and tourism activities along with conservation of biodiversity and cultural values in appropriate zones.

Marine parks are created for multiple uses and are designed to manage activities by way of a zoning scheme. There may be ‘no take’ areas (sanctuary zones) in a marine park which play a valuable role in preserving representative areas of biodiversity, protecting particularly vulnerable sedentary fish species, protecting sensitive fish habitat and providing sites for long-term scientific monitoring. There may also be recreation zones and special purpose zones which are designed to allow for or limit particular activities. General use zones allow the broadest range of sustainable activities to continue occurring.

When developing the zoning scheme, marine park planners use science to develop the foundations of the marine park with the aim of striking a balance between conservation, cultural values and customary use, recreational and commercial interests, socio-economic factors such as tourism, fishing, ports and shipping industries and scientific research.

Whilst the challenge to find a balance between marine conservation outcomes and other interests is large, the potential reward for doing so is even larger.

Working alongside fisheries management

Whilst marine parks are not designed to manage or benefit fisheries, they do work alongside fisheries management to ensure we have healthy, productive and resilient oceans for years to come.

Where effective fisheries management strategies have been adopted, such as in WA, the overall influence of no-take sanctuary zones on fishery productivity is much less than in places where management has been lacking or is ineffective and fish stocks and habitats have already been severely depleted.

Networks of no-take sanctuary zones in marine parks can still play a valuable role in providing insurance against management uncertainties and external pressures (i.e. climate change) and a benchmark for evaluating the effects of activities outside marine park boundaries.

One of the greatest benefits of marine parks is that they generally receive greater funding for scientific research and monitoring. Increased research and monitoring results in improved understanding of our oceans and the marine life within them, as well as documenting the benefits of successful marine park management.