 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Marine park" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Amarine park is a designatedpark consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieveecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marinerecreational activities, and provide benefits forIndigenous peoples and coastalcommunities.[1] Most marine parks are managed by national governments, and organized like 'watery'national parks, whereasmarine protected areas andmarine reserves are often managed by asubnational entity ornon-governmental organization, such as aconservation authority.[2]
The largest marine park used to be theGreat Barrier Reef Marine Park inAustralia, at 350,000 km² until 2010, when theUnited Kingdom announced the opening of the Chagos Marine Park orChagos Archipelago.[citation needed]
Although for many uses it is sufficient to designate the boundaries of the marine park and to inform commercialfishing boats and other maritime enterprises, some parks have gone to additional effort to make their wonders accessible to visitors. These can range fromglass-bottomed boats and smallsubmarines, to windowed undersea tubes.
InNew Zealand amarine reserve is an area which has a higher degree of legal protection than marine parks forconservation purposes.[citation needed]
InNew South Wales, there are planned marine parks which will stretch along the coastline of the entire state.[3]
France and its territories are home to nine marine parks, known asparc naturel marin [fr].[4][5]
Nearly all existing marine reserves have been set close to shore, mostly in territorial waters. A main reason for this lies in the fragmented nature of maritime governance in international waters, the poor enforcement of existing regulations in the High seas, plus the difficult co-management that would be required of countries often in conflict. How to circumvent such obstacles? In 2011, based on unique biological, geological and oceanographic features, the Mediterranean Science Commission proposed the creation of eight large international, coast-to coast "Marine Peace Parks" in the Mediterranean Sea where no coastal point is farther than 200 nautical miles from waters under another jurisdiction. The trans-frontier structure of such 'Peace' Parks puts this problem aside, encouraging the local Governments involved to join forces in the pursuit of a cause higher than their national interest without prejudice to current national claims .[9]
Greenpeace is campaigning for the "doughnut holes" of the western pacific to be declared as marine reserves.[10] They are also campaigning for 40 percent of the world’s oceans to be protected as marine reserves.[11]
The Australian Government manages an estate ofmarine protected areas (MPA) that areCommonwealth reserves under theEnvironment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
As of December 2013, the following marine parks have been declared under theMarine Parks Act 2007 (SA) :[12]
The state ofVictoria has protected approximately 5.3% of coastal waters. In June 2002, legislation was passed to establish 13 Marine National Parks and 11 Marine Sanctuaries. Victoria isthe first jurisdiction in the world to create an entire system of highly protected Marine National Parks at the same time.[13] Additional areas are listed as Marine Parks or Marine Reserves, which provides a lower level of protection and allows activities such as commercial and recreational fishing.
The marine national parks are:
Kimberley region:
Gascoyne region:
The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is the world's largest tuna fishery. Over half of the tuna consumed worldwide is taken from this area. Rampant overfishing is destroying this fishery; relatively healthy just a few years ago. Today, two key Pacific species, Bigeye and Yellowfin could face collapse unless urgent action is taken.
A growing body of scientific evidence that demonstrates what we at Greenpeace have been saying for a long time: that the establishment of large-scale networks of marine reserves, urgently needed to protect marine species and their habitats, could be key to reversing global fisheries decline.
