Marine Parks in Australia - Term Paper Example

Marine parks in Australia Australia is a marine nation with magnificent oceans that are admired worldwide. These natural resources and marine reserves are adored by Australians and worldwide and they form part of Australian way of life. Australia has been widely recognized in various aspects including ecological, economic, and cultural importance especially for its oceans and coastal areas (Hillstrom and Hillstrom 2003, p.62). Australian government strives for an incredible diversity of life in their oceans to be protected and at the same time allow its citizens to enjoy the benefits that these oceans provide but in a more sustainable manner. To be able to achieve this, it is necessary to have appropriate planning and management based on science and marine reserves. In Australia, there are Commonwealth marine parks that all governments have been working hard to protect marine life. Indeed, the marine life in these parks is a major attraction site because there are many leisure activities available in the coastlines including whale watching, diving, boating, and fishing among others. Marine parks are also known as marine protected areas and marine reserves are special underwater areas that are managed mainly to conserve their ecosystem, habitats and marine life that they support. This paper explores Australian marine parks covering their current status in relation to protected area management, and action taken on the issue. Australia has larger oceans that occupy a larger portion of their land. Marine parks occupy about 27.9 % of Australian waters (Newsome, Moore and Dowling 2013, p.247). Arguably, Australian oceans are the third largest and most diverse in the whole world and they are the world’s attractive sites visited by tourists from different parts of the world. More so, it has the largest single relief known as the Great Barrier Reef, which contains the best managed reef and coastal waters worldwide (Short and Woodroffe 2009, p.262). The Great Barrier Reef covers the sea area of about 344,000 kilometres per square (Scovazzi 1999, p.7). Moreover, Australian oceans provide refuge for diverse species such as whale and dolphin species, and fish among others. Ningaloo Marine Park is also another Australian marine park protecting diverse habitats such as coral reefs, lagoons, and continental seabeds among others (White 2009, p.387). Indeed, Australian oceans are special and worthy of protection. The environment, economy, culture and society fully depend on healthy oceans. Over seventy five percent of Australian population is along the coastline making Australia to have a unique coastal environment surrounded by streams and rivers, lagoons, beaches, and estuarine areas among others (Perrow and Davy2002, p.104). Australians are islanders and coastal people and so these oceans is part of their lifestyle and they are pleased with their coral reefs and beaches because they can explore and practice different activities such as diving and fishing as a way of enjoying themselves and admiring nature. These oceans provide food, place of work and play, but these oceans suffer from misuse and lack of protection. Australian citizens make use of the marine environment either for recreational activities such as diving and boating, or for commercial activities like tourism and commercial fishing among others. Many Australians use their leisure time engaging in recreational fishing and so the Australian government has tried to avoid locating highly protected marine park zones in area important to recreational fishers. Therefore, recreational fishers are allowed to conduct such activity in particular zone areas such as Multiple Use zones among others. More so, commercial fishing is acknowledged by the government and is therefore permitted in most marine zones. In addition, marine tourism activities including whale watching and diving will be allowed within all zones in the marine reserves networks. However, tourism activities involving the extraction of marine resources are prohibited. Moreover, charter boat operations that involve fishing such as charter fishing tours are permitted. Nevertheless, activities such as exploring and developing petroleum is not allowed anywhere in the Coral Sea Commonwealth marine reserves, but port development and shipping is allowed everywhere around the marine reserves. However, practices like unsustainable coastal development, overfishing, and offshore petroleum extraction and production are the leading factors affecting marine life. The oceans need to be protected just like any other area by dealing with such threats. Marine protected areas have been established in various parts of the world to reduce the biodiversity in different oceans. Whether these marine protected areas are really working is another area of concern because there are various threats to marine life including climate change and pollution among others. Many Australian marine species have collapsed and some like smooth hand fish have not been seen for a long time. More so, the marine species that create habitat for other species are declining. For instance, the coral cover across the Great Barrier Reef has reduced significantly, and also the oyster reefs have disappeared globally; in addition , population decline in some species like sharks has been noted. Arguably, marine parks refer to the regions that have been legally declared as marine parks including the Great Barrier Reef marine park among others (“Aust. Bureau of Statistics” 2000, p.336). Marine parks are highly protected areas known as sanctuary zones particularly from extractive industries like fishing and oil and gas exploration. However, marine parks are designated sanctuaries where individuals can boat, swim, and snorkel among other activities and so these places should not be locked up but there should be a way where ocean life is protected while at the same time individuals can see nature at its best. Sanctuary zones and these include marine parks are important in protecting ocean’s diversity and marine life. Such places allow fish to spawn and grow, provide natural sites where individuals can visit, and provide appropriate places for education and research. Sanctuary zones provide a way of protecting marine life so as to continue conserving nature and protecting Australian government as a whole. Notably, these zones have significantly contributed to the growth and recovery of stocks of fish and marine life. Ideally, if fish is given enough time to breed and replenish, the number of bigger fish will increase significantly. Therefore, Australians stand to benefit from better protected oceans. The proposed Commonwealth Act about marine parks, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999, focused on protecting Australian environment including marine environment. This Act was enacted to provide to protect Australian environment especially its biodiversity and other significant places. In addition, this Act developed various processes to assist in the protection and promotion biodiversity and other important places. This Act played a leading role in regulating marine activities such as whales and other cetaceans (White 2009, p.384). More so, under this Act, Commonwealth manages many marine protected areas that are Commonwealth reserves (White 2009, p.386). In addition, this Act created the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to be in charge of the management of this park (Scovazzi 1999, p.8). Since Australian marine parks allow a wide range of activities including fishing and boating as well as other threatening activities such as mining, it is necessary to protect marine ecosystems. More so, there is need to ensure that ocean use is properly planned, managed and ecological sustainable and this can be achieved by reducing land-based pollution and address climate change. Protecting biodiversity is very important in maintaining life-sustaining systems of the biosphere and a report released by Commonwealth revealed that loss of biodiversity is one of the most serious environmental problems in Australia (White 2009, p.385). Marine protected areas are essential tools in the conservation of marine and they help in fisheries management and conservation of biodiversity and threatened species (Gales, Hindell, and Kirkwood 2003, p.395). Australian government mainly focuses on reviewing various marine protected areas and this review concentrates on the zones excluding recreational fishers and focuses whether recreational fishers can be allowed back in to continue with their fishing activity. However, other forces that are threat to marine life such as oil and gas exploration developments and so fishing should not be the only factor seen as a threat to marine life. Environmental groups are not pleased with the current situation in which the federal government has removed management plans from the largest marine park globally on Australia’s south-west coast. In addition, scientists have criticized the federal government’s scheduled marine reserve network claiming that the marine parks will not protect vulnerable areas. The marine parks intend to balance leisure, commercial and conservation interests but this is nearly impossible. The highly protected areas are located in deep water while the most vulnerable ecosystems are situated on the continental shelf. The issue of whether marine parks should be closed has created attention from different individuals including scientists and environmentalists. Some argue that marine parks provide the only opportunity to allow individuals watch marine mammals and that marine park allow the average Australian to appreciate marine life. In addition, these marine parks attract a lot of foreign tourists, but there is need to promote such beautiful natural environment to tourist by ensuring that they are properly managed and conserved accordingly. Balancing between biodiversity conservation and industry is a very difficult task especially in places that support leisure, commercial and conservation interests. The current management review focuses on fishing, but there is a very different challenge in Australia’s northwest marine region where some different marine ecosystems overlay international significant oil and gas reserves. Australia’s gas production has increased tremendously and the government is focused on maximizing access to the nation’s oil and gas resources. Given that the majority of Australia’s gas resources are found in Australia’s northwest, effectively balancing between conservation and commercial interests is not only difficult but also potentially expensive. For instance, the worst offshore oil spill was experienced in Australia’s history in the northwest region and by this, cost-effectively different marine environments was put at danger of irreversible destruction. Moreover, this oil spill indicated lack of ecological data of the region to help in identifying and managing the impacts of an oil spill. Therefore, protecting biodiversity to the northwest region also focuses on the benefits derived from the oil and gas industry as well as the commercial fishing. This implies that the proposed marine reserves in the northwest greatly favours of industry. To effectively manage the coastal region, there is need to integrate land and sea boundary (Macneely1994). Currently, Australian government is implementing Networks of Marine Protected Areas to represent diverse major ecosystems in Australia’s oceans, seas, and coastlines among others. This network is part of an initiative to help in conserving seas and coasts worldwide. Moreover, the federal government suggests maintaining the outer boundaries of the marine reserve network while creating zones within the reserves to enable both recreational and commercial fishing to be carried out. However, some have disagreed with this strategy claiming that if the alternative regions are not closed, individual’s ability to engage in the management and conservation of biodiversity will be compromised. Therefore, there is need to establish a holistic approach to this issue to come up with a better solution. Initially, the proposed solution was to abandon the potential regions for oil and gas reserves but this is likely to the marine protected areas system unrepresentative. Conversely, incorporating these regions will increase the cost of any reserve system. Therefore, the cost effective solution can be found by getting industry users into the management process and observing the prospective zones for oil and gas mining incompatible with marine biodiversity preservation. Actively engaging the oil and gas industry as a way of protecting marine biodiversity may be offer valuable solution to the conservation of marine life. Overall, in areas highly valuable to industry, the cost of biodiversity protection will be high if the oil and gas interests are perceived as incompatible with conservation. Furthermore, failure to properly manage and protect these unique ecosystems will be costly in the long run. In conclusion, Australia is recognized worldwide because of its unique coastal environment. Australian oceans are very important natural resources that form part of Australian way of life because they entirely depend on these resources for both recreational activities such as boating, shipping, and commercial activities mainly commercial fishing. Marine parks aims at balancing leisure, commercial and conservations interests but this is something that is nearly impossible. The federal government has initiated various ways to ensure that the marine life is protected and at the same time allow Australian citizens to enjoy the benefits provided by these natural resources. In addition, all governments have focused on protecting the Commonwealth marine parks. Ensuring sustainable use of oceans can be achieved by reducing land based pollution and address climate change. Marine protected areas are essential tools for marine conservation and since protecting biodiversity is a very important issue, these protected areas significantly contribute in protecting marine life. The Australian government is focused to review various marine protected areas that will allow recreational fishers to carry out fishing activities in these marine reserves. Moreover, the 1999 Act was enacted to offer necessary protection for Australian environment including marine environment and marine life. Its main purpose was to provide a framework for protection of Australian government including biodiversity and other significant places. In the process of conserving biodiversity, other threats to marine life such as oil and gas exploration should be considered instead of focusing on commercial fishing alone. Marine parks form part of Australia’s beautiful and attractive place and so protecting and conservation of marine life should be a major concern. Australian marine parks should be closed or conserved to protect marine life. References “Aust. Bureau of Statistics”, 2000, Year Book Australia 2000. Gales, N., Hindell, M., and Kirkwood, R. 2003, Marine mammals: fisheries, tourism, and management issues, Collingwood, Vic, CSIRO. Hillstrom, K., and Hillstrom, L. C.2003, Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica: a continental overview of environmental issues, Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.], ABC-CLIO. Macneely, J. A.1994, Protecting nature: regional reviews of protected areas.Cambridge:IUCN Newsome, D., Moore, S. A., and Dowling, R. K.2013, Natural area tourism: ecology, impacts, and management, Bristol, Channel View Publications. Perrow, M. R., and Davy, A. J. 2002, Handbook of ecological restoration, Cambridge, Angleterre, Cambridge University Press. Scovazzi, T. 1999, Marine specially protected areas: the general aspects and the Mediterranean regional system, The Hague, Kluwer Law International. Short, A. D., and Woodroffe, C. D.2009, The coast of Australia, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. White, M. W. D. 2009, Australian offshore laws, Annandale, N.S.W., Federation Press. Read More