South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
South Australian Marine
Conservation Consensus Statement
Oceans Defender Inc.
Animal Liberation Inc. (SA)
Friends of Corvisart Bay.
Fishers For Conservation Inc.
Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience.
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
South Australian Marine Conservation
We the undersigned groups working for a better protected, managed and
healthier South Australian marine environment state that:
South Australia’s marine environment is an important part of Australia’s ‘Unique
South’, the southern temperate waters, where up to 90% of the species in some plant
and animal groups are found nowhere else in the world.
There is strong and increasing scientific support for networks of strictly protected
areas in Australia’s southern temperate oceans.
Our marine waters have many uses. They will all benefit from a better-protected and
healthier marine environment.
We the undersigned groups believe that:
South Australia’s unique marine waters deserve and need a system of strictly
protected Marine National Parks.
Marine National Parks are marine areas that are strictly protected for non-extractive
uses including conservation, research, education, recreation (diving, snorkelling,
boating, surfing, swimming) and tourism. They prohibit all extractive use.
Marine National Parks constitute the core protection within broader, ecosystembased management of the total ocean, in which marine uses are allocated within an
integrated, spatially-managed framework.
Marine National Parks and ecosystem-based management plans should be
established without further delay, and before any further potentially harmful
extraction activities, including aquaculture developments, are permitted.
Adequate resources must be allocated within management plans to provide for
ongoing, long-term scientific monitoring and research of Marine National Park
areas.
The Marine National Park network can be declared under the existing National Parks
and Wildlife Act 1972 and/or the Wilderness Protection Act 1992. Any new 'Marine
Protected Areas' legislation must deliver at least the protection of IUCN category Ia
or Ib and should not further delay the implementation of the network of Marine
National Parks.
A community nomination process similar to that in the Wilderness Protection Act
should be incorporated into any new Act, with legislated minimum time frames for
response to nominations.
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
We the undersigned groups urge our South Australian politicians, as a matter of
urgency, to:
Replace the current disjointed and inadequate planning processes and timeframes for
marine protected areas and marine plans with a genuine, ecosystem-based marine
planning process that allocates marine use within a spatially managed (zoned)
framework, and that has at its core, a network of Marine National Parks.
Establish a network of Marine National Parks that covers each of South Australia’s
marine bioregions and habitats.
Ensure that all efforts are made to maximise community involvement with all stages of
marine planning including Marine National Park / Wilderness Protection Area
proclamation and management.
Ensure that the entire Marine National Park system is proclaimed at the one time to
give certainty to all marine users.
Ensure that alongside of proclamation of Marine National Parks / Wilderness
Protection Areas resources are allocated without delay for collection of baseline
data, scientific monitoring and research in these areas.
Ensure that the identified candidate areas for Marine National Parks / Wilderness
Protection Areas are protected from all targeted exploitation prior to their
proclamation, by declaring a moratorium on all new extractive activities, including
aquaculture development permits, until the marine protection and planning process is
completed and the Parks’ system established.
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
Signed for and on behalf of (in no particular order):
The Wilderness Society (SA Branch) Inc.
Peter Owen, SA Campaign Coordinator, (08) 8231 6586
Marine Life Society of SA
Phillip Hall, President, 82704463
Conservation Council of South Australia
Michelle Grady, CEO,
Marine Education Society of Australasia Inc. (MESA)
Angela Colliver, President, (07) 4750 0850
Surfrider Foundation Australia
Corey Jackson, President of the South Australian Branch of Surfrider Foundation,
0427 833 419
Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS)
Kate Davey, Director, (07) 3393 5811
Friends of Corvisart Bay
Joe Taylor, Convener, 0416241653
Baird Bay Ocean Eco Experience
Alan and Trish Payne, (08) 86265017
Friends of Newland Head Conservation Park
Ron Taylor, 8 Simpson Ave, Victor Harbor SA 5211
Australian Conservation Foundation
Chris Smyth, Marine Campaign Coordinator, (03) 9345 1129
Animal Liberation Inc. (SA)
Jamnes Danenberg, Campaign Co-ordinator, (08) 8231 8785
Nature Conservation Society of South Australia, Inc.
Nicole Lewis, Scientific Officer, (08) 8223 1693
Fishers For Conservation Inc.
Patrick McEvoy, Public Officer, (08) 8277 1972
Friends of Sceale Bay
David Kirner, 32 Bucknall Road Glanville 5015 SA
Oceans Defender Inc.
GPO Box 170, Adelaide 5001
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Danny Kennedy, Campaigns Manager, 1408 754 910
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
APPENDIX
Marine National Parks and Ecosystem-based Management:
What are Marine National Parks?
Marine National Parks and Wilderness Protected Areas are for the protection of
biodiversity and are therefore strictly protected for non-extractive uses only. It is
acknowledged that some scientific research may require an extractive component and
this should be allowed within protected areas via a permit system.
The environmental and socio-economic benefits of Marine National Parks include:
Environmental
 Conservation of examples of marine ecosystems and associated biodiversity;
 Provision of habitat protection and refuges for exploited, threatened and
endangered marine species;
 Provision of scientific reference and research points;
 Insurance against ignorance, accidents, errors and natural disasters;
 Potential spill-over of marine life into adjacent areas;
 Provision of ecological services: larval dispersal and transport, nutrient
cycling;
 Provision of baseline ecological data on natural productivity;
 Increased ecosystem resilience, including resilience to the impacts of climate
change;
Socio-economic
 Direct employment in parks and sanctuaries;
 Stimulate employment in marine-based tourism, marine research, diving and
charter boat hire (and spin-offs to local businesses);
 Recreation eg. diving, snorkelling, surfing, boating, sightseeing etc.;
 Community education and increased community awareness of marine systems
and their conservation needs;
 Underpinning stable, sustainable fisheries;
 Reference areas and benchmarks inform management and help measure
effectiveness of management activities;
World Parks Congress Recommendation 22
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) World Parks Congress Recommendation
No. 22 (Sept. 2003) stated that there is a need to “establish…a global system of
effectively managed, representative networks of marine and coastal protected areas,
consistent with international law and based on scientific information, that…include
strictly protected areas that amount to at least 20-30% of each habitat”. The Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park has had 33% of its waters proclaimed as fully protected
‘marine national park’ zones with a guaranteed minimum of 20% of each habitat in
such zones. For WA’s Ningaloo Reef Marine Park, 34% of the park’s waters are fully
protected, with 37% of the principal bioregion inside the park accorded that status.
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement
Criteria used in the identification and selection of Marine National Parks
The location and boundaries of candidate Marine National Parks should be identified
using the following criteria1:
Ecological criteria
 Comprehensiveness – The full range of biophysical diversity (biodiversity and
associated habitat types) is included in a system of Marine National Parks;
 Adequacy – The ability to maintain conservation objectives of individual
Marine National Parks (ie. each unit large enough) and of the Marine National
Park system (ie. units close enough together). The size and location of each
National Park must be based on its status, condition, vulnerability, level of
disturbance, and the ecological/biophysical requirements of its flora & fauna;
 Representativeness – Representative at the levels of biogeographic region,
bioregion, ecosystem, habitat and community types. An appropriate amount of
each habitat within each bioregion should be included within the Marine
National Park system;
 Criticalness – The degree to which life stages of valued species (eg. rare,
endangered, commercial) and important ecosystem processes are dependent on
the habitat or area;
 Irreplaceability – The degree to which a particular habitat is irreplaceable if
lost to development or degradation;
 Naturalness – The degree of protection from human disturbance (favours
remote locations and those adjacent to terrestrial parks);
 Important species and communities - Includes key species for maintenance of
ecosystem processes and significant habitats that help protect rare, threatened,
endemic or migratory species. Also includes threatened marine ecological
communities and critical habitat of listed threatened species;
 Rarity, uniqueness – Contains rare, unique, iconic or unusual biogeographic
qualities, habitats, geological or biological features. Incorporating all of a
biophysical feature or place maximises the ecological benefits gained from
managing whole ecological units;
 Vulnerability – Fragile areas receive higher ranking in selection process;
 Diversity – The variety of habitats, communities and species richness, bearing
in mind the danger that natural areas that are less diverse but of ecological
importance should not be ignored in the selection process;
 Redundancy – The degree of replication built into the system;
 Distribution – The Marine National Park system should reflect that community
types, habitats and ecological processes can cover wide latitudinal and
longitudinal ranges, high-level protection should exist throughout the water
column in recognition of vertical linkages between habitats and species
 Ecological processes and connectivity– The siting of individual areas in the
system should reflect currents, dispersal patterns, migratory routes of fish and
whales, upwelling areas, spawning aggregations and congregation sites of
high-order predators or other important keystone and indicator species;
1 Smyth, C., Prideaux, M., Davey, K. and Grady, M., (2003) Oceans Eleven: The Implementation of Australia’s Oceans Policy
and Ecosystem Based Regional Marine Planning, Australian Conservation Foundation, p36, adapted with some additions
from Traill, B., & Porter C., (2001), Nature Conservation Review Victoria 2001, Victorian National Parks Association.
:
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South Australian Marine Conservation Consensus Statement

Productivity – The conservation significance of high productivity areas (ie.
up-welling or mangrove areas) should be recognised with high levels of
protection at appropriate scales.
Scientific, cultural, pragmatic and economic criteria
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International value – Areas covered by international conventions;
Research – Scientific value for research;
Benchmarking – Importance of prior research to monitoring the ecological
effects of protection;
Diversity – People are more impressed by areas with high species diversity,
and hence, see more value in protecting them;
Special species or features – Feel-good value of protecting unique, unusual,
rare and endangered species (eg. endangered mammals);
Feasibility – Take into account ability to manage, enforce and monitor
(favours areas adjacent to existing coastal protected areas), also the level of
conflict generated towards proposal;
Educational value – Value to formal and informal marine education programs;
Restorability – Potential for restoration to natural state;
Cultural value – Indigenous and non-indigenous;
Recreational and tourism value – Economic, social values and contribution to
community wellbeing;
Accessibility – For public education and involvement;
Scenic beauty – Value to scenic appreciation of marine and coastal
environments.
Ecosystem based management is defined as per Oceans11.
IUCN protected area categories can be viewed at:
http://www.iucn.org/themes/wcpa/wcpa/protectedareas.htm
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