Department of Conservation and Land Management

Background and key components of Western Australia's administrative framework for marine conservation

In recognition of the importance of conserving the State’s marine biodiversity, the State Government established the Marine Parks and Reserves Selection Working Group (MPRSWG) in 1986 to identify representative and unique areas of Western Australia’s marine waters for consideration as part of a statewide system of marine conservation reserves under the CALM Act. The MPRSWG’s report identified over seventy candidate areas throughout the coastal waters of Western Australia. This State's current marine reserves program is underpinned by the recommendations of the MPRSWG's report, in that the areas recommended by the MPRSWG form the basis for the State's marine protected areas implementation program, coordinated through DCLM.

The State's marine conservation reserves (MCRs) are vested in the Marine Parks and Reserves Authority (MPRA), which was established in 1997 through amendments to the CALM Act. Day to day management of waters vested in the MPRA is carried out by DCLM.

In relation to the conservation of the State's natural marine and estuarine resources, Section 26B(1)b of the CALM act prescribes the functions of the MPRA to include:

· the development of policies to preserve those resources;
· submitting proposed management plans for MCRs to the Minister for the Environment;
· with the approval of the Minister for the Environment, to cause study or research to be undertaken to assist in policy development; and
· in relation to management plans for MCRs, to develop guidelines for monitoring the implementation of the plans by the DCLM, to set performance criteria for evaluating the carrying out of the management plans and to conduct periodic assessments of the implementation of the management plans.

The MPRA therefore has an overseeing role to assess the effectiveness of management in meeting the objectives of MCR management plans and this is achieved through regular MPRA audits of DCLM's management performance, in respect of the implementation of management strategies expressed in MCR management plans. An appropriate understanding of the oceanography of the waters being managed by DCLM therefore forms a fundamental informational requirement for management.
With respect to the State's marine environment, DCLM's management responsibilities cover an area that is vast, remote, and operationally complex for management. The DCLM currently manages seven existing MCRs between the northwest and southwest of the State, covering a total reserve area of approximately 1.2M ha:

Rowley Shoals Marine Park
Ningaloo Marine Park
Shark Bay Marine Park
Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve
Marmion Marine Park
Shoalwater Islands Marine Park
Swan Estuary Marine Park

Within the same coastal span, a further three proposed MCRs, having a combined area of about 0.45M ha, are currently in advanced stages of planning by DCLM (areas covering Dampier Archipelago/Cape Preston, Montebello/Barrow Islands and Jurien Bay and adjacent waters, respectively). MCR planning processes have also begun for the Geographe Bay-Capes-Hardy Inlet and Walpole/Nornalup Inlet areas, respectively.

In addition to these, the Report of the MPRSWG recommends that about 65 more areas, comprising nearly 30% of the State's Territorial Waters, be considered as a basis for the establishment of a representative marine reserve system for the State. It is possible that the next phase in establishing the CAR system of marine protected areas for Western Australia will consider a bioregional approach, as favored by the MPRA, with the Kimberley and south coast regions two of the likely areas to be addressed as priorities.