EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Proclamation to establish a conservation zone in the Coral Sea
(Issued by Authority of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts)
Subsection 390D(1) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) provides that the Governor-General may, by Proclamation, declare a Commonwealth area outside a Commonwealth reserve to be a conservation zone. A Commonwealth area includes the waters of the exclusive economic zone and the seabed under those waters.
Subsection 390D(2) of the EPBC Act requires that before a conservation zone Proclamation is made, the Minister must be satisfied that the area should be assessed to determine whether the biodiversity, other natural features and heritage in the area should be protected by including the area in a Commonwealth reserve.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to establish a conservation zone in the area of the Coral Sea within Australia’s exclusive economic zone to protect biodiversity, other natural features and heritage in this Commonwealth area while it is being assessed for inclusion in a Commonwealth reserve. The area contains outstanding conservation and cultural values that warrant consideration for protection.
The environmental significance of the Coral Sea derives from the globally unique assemblage of scattered coral reefs, seamounts, atolls, abyssal plains, deep sea canyons and islands and the extent to which the region’s natural and heritage values have remained relatively undisturbed by direct human impact. The conservation values of the area also include the high level of species diversity and endemism, regionally and globally significant breeding, spawning and nesting grounds for many commercially important and protected species, and its pivotal role in the oceanography and ecology of eastern Australian waters. Further detail of the conservation and cultural values of the Coral Sea is described in the East Bioregional Profile which is due to be publicly released in early 2009.
In July 2008 the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts wrote to the Prime Minister signalling his intention to declare a conservation zone in the Coral Sea. The Minister then wrote to other relevant Ministers in October 2008 about the proposed conservation zone, and in December 2008 an inter-departmental meeting was held to canvass the views and concerns of relevant Australian Government departments and agencies. The majority of other Ministers and their Departments were supportive of the proposal, and provided contact details for relevant stakeholders, who were advised of the conservation zone prior to its announcement.
The proclaimed conservation zone covers the entire area of the Coral Sea under Australia’s jurisdiction, and the seabed under those waters to a depth of 1,000 metres (Commonwealth area), as described in the Schedule attached to the Proclamation.
This Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The Proclamation commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.