The Australian government plans to declare 30% of its ocean “highly protected” by 2030, raising expectations from conservationists it will ban fishing and drilling in nearly a third of the country’s waters.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, told the UN Ocean Conference in France a review of 44 of Australia’s marine parks would “lay the foundation” to increase the area of the country’s ocean with higher levels of protection.
Some 52% of Australia’s ocean area has previously been declared marine park since the late 1990s, giving different levels of protection to wildlife and habitats, but only 24% has levels of protection that keep out all forms of fishing and extraction.
“It’s clear that Australia can achieve 30% of our marine protected area estate in highly protected areas by 2030 and a three-year review of our remaining 44 marine parks will lay the foundation for this,” Watt said.
The term “highly protected” means all extractive activities are banned – which can include fishing, drilling and mining.
Conservationists welcomed the commitment, but said the ocean was also under assault from global heating and Australia needed to set more ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2035, beyond the current 2030 goal of a 43% cut, based on 2005 levels, by 2030.
Watt told a reception at the conference that Australia protected “more ocean than any other country on Earth” and 1.3m sq km of highly protected areas had been added in the past three years – an area almost the size of the Northern Territory.
“A healthy ocean is critical to Australia’s environment, economy and wellbeing,” Watt said.
“Australia may be a large country, but our ocean territory is bigger than our land mass and is central to our national identity.”
Watt also confirmed the government would introduce legislation before the end of the year to allow the ratification of a high seas biodiversity treaty, which the country signed in September 2023 but had not yet ratified.
Christabel Mitchell, the oceans director at Pew Charitable Trusts, said: “Fully protected marine sanctuaries are the heart of a healthy ocean. They are critical breeding and feeding grounds for the fish, seals, whales, turtles and other marine life which go on to populate our oceans.
“Australia has some of the most diverse and magnificent oceans on the planet and it’s our privilege and responsibility to protect them.”
As reported in the Guardian, swathes of corals on reefs across vast areas of Western Australian coastline have died in recent months after an unprecedented marine heatwave scientists said was fuelled by global heating.
Adele Pedder, a campaigner for marine protected areas at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said some of Australia’s most critical areas were still under-protected, but “increased protection needed to be matched by increased ambition on climate change”.
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Pedder said “highly protected” marine areas excluded all fishing and extractive activities, such as drilling.
She said: “Science has shown us that these fully protected areas give resilience to ecosystems so they have a fighting chance in the face of climate change.”
Recent approvals of fossil fuel projects showed the weakness in the country’s environment laws “that the government absolutely needs to address”, she said.
The Albanese government has promised to set an emissions reduction target for 2035 ahead of this November’s UN climate talks in Brazil.
Richard Leck, the head of oceans at WWF Australia, said that target needed to be in line with keep global heating to 1.5C – a “critical threshold” for coral reefs.
Australia’s commitment to increasing marine sanctuaries and ratifying the high seas treaty was a “significant step forward”, he said.
A new documentary from David Attenborough, called Ocean, has also called on the UN Ocean Conference to ratify the high seas treaty and push for the goal to have 30% of the planet’s oceans highly protected in areas known as marine sanctuaries.
“Australia has just committed to both the actions called for by Sir David Attenborough,” Leck said.
“Ocean ecosystems are incredibly resilient when you reduce the threats that they face. We see this time and time again. Marine sanctuaries aren’t just for biodiversity. They’re an insurance policy for the fishing industry as well.”
