Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) Management Plan 2005-2012

Explanatory Statement

Background

The Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) (the Park) was proclaimed in 1998 under the former National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.  The Proclamation continues under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).  The Park is located in the Great Australian Bight adjoining the South Australian Great Australian Bight Marine Park in the coastal waters of the State.  The Park comprises two overlapping zones, the Marine Mammal Protection Zone that extends from three nautical miles (the limit of coastal waters) to approximately 12 nautical miles offshore, and the Benthic Protection Zone, a 20 nautical mile-wide representative strip of the ocean floor extending from the limit of coastal waters directly south to 200 nautical miles offshore to the edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Australia.

Management of the Park is the function of the Director of National Parks (the Director) under the EPBC Act.  The Director has delegated this function to the Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH).

The Australian and South Australian Governments manage their respective components of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park cooperatively in accordance with management plans to protect conservation values while allowing ecologically sustainable uses that are consistent with protecting these values and that contribute to regional and national development.

The particular conservation values that the Park protects are:

1. Habitat for the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis).

2. Habitat for the Australian Sea-lion (Neophoca cinerea).

3. Habitat for other species of conservation significance.

4. A transect representative of the seabed on the continental shelf and slope of the Great Australian Bight.

The Park has been assigned, under the EPBC Act, to the IUCN category ‘managed resource protected area’ which corresponds to the international IUCN Protected Area Management Category VI.  This indicates that the Park will be managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

Section 366 of the EPBC Act requires that the Director must prepare a management plan for a Commonwealth reserve.  The management plan provides the legal mechanism to regulate or allow activities to be conducted in a reserve according to the conservation objectives of the reserve and the EPBC Act.

The first Management Plan for the Park was prepared under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975.  It came into effect on 17 May 2000 and ceases to have effect on 16 May 2005.  The second Plan will come into operation on 17 May 2005.  It will cease to have effect seven years after commencement, unless sooner revoked and replaced by a new Management Plan.

Structure and Content of the Management Plan

The Management Plan consists of two parts.  Part 1 explains the context of managing the Park, including the legal context.  Part 2 sets out how the Park will be managed.  It has been structured according to the Parks Australia Strategic Planning and Performance Assessment Framework.  The purpose of the Framework is to achieve consistency and comprehensiveness in the management and conservation within and between reserves.  Copies of the Framework are available from DEH on request.

The Great Australian Bight Marine Park Management plan includes four of the Framework’s seven Key Result Areas:

• Key Result Area 1 (KRA1): Natural heritage management
• Key Result Area 4 (KRA4): Visitor management and park use
• Key Result Area 5 (KRA5): Stakeholders and partnerships
• Key Result Area 6 (KRA6): Business management

              NOTE: Key Result Areas 2 (Cultural heritage management), 3 (Joint management) and 7 (Biodiversity knowledge management) are not relevant to this Management Plan.

Within the Management Plan each Key Result Area has sections covering the protection and management of the various aspects of the Park’s values and uses:

•      Species of conservation significance;
•      Seafloor sample;
•      Entering and using the Park generally;
•      Fishing other than commercial fishing;
•      Commercial and scientific activities;
•      Commercial fishing;
•      Mining operations;
•      Service level agreement between Australian and South Australian Governments;
•      Steering and Consultative Committees;
•      Implementation and Communication;
•      Compliance and enforcement; and
•      Performance assessment.

Most sections of the Management Plan are structured in the following way:

• ‘Aims’ that describe the desired result of park management activity.
• ‘Performance indicators’ that can be used to measure whether management of the Park is effective in achieving the aims.
• ‘Background’ that explains why the section is needed.
• ‘Prescriptions’ that set out controls on activities in the Park and strategies for managing the Park.

Consultation

On 3 March 2004 a notice of intention to prepare the second Management Plan for the Park was published in accordance with the EPBC Act.  The notice invited interested persons to provide comments on the proposed plan by 9 April 2004.  Two submissions were received.

Between August 2003 and May 2004 a committee of government and non-government stakeholders reviewed the first Management Plan in order to inform the development of the second Plan.  A draft Plan was prepared following this review and consideration of the comments received in response to the public invitation.  It was released for public comment on 5 November 2004, for a period of 32 days.  Invitation to comment was published in the Government Gazette and newspaper advertisements.  Copies of the draft plan were made available at the DEH Community Information Unit and through the DEH website.  Copies of the plan were also sent to interest groups and stakeholders.  Comments on the draft plan closed on 6 December 2004.  A total of fourteen individuals and organisations made comments. 

All comments received have been considered by the Director in revising the draft Plan.  The comments and the Director’s views on them are contained in the Director’s Report which is submitted with the Plan to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage for approval and tabled in both Houses of Parliament.  Copies of the Director’s Report are available from DEH on request.

In accordance with requirements on new regulatory instruments, the Director sought the advice from the Office of Regulation Review (ORR) as to whether a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) was required for the second plan.  The ORR advised that as the second plan is of a minor or machinery nature and does not introduce significant changes from the first plan, a RIS is not required.

Legislative Instrument

The Management Plan is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.