Water Activities, continued

Marine Protected Areas

Australia's oceans contain more than 4,000 different fish and tens of thousands of species of invertebrates, plants and microorganisms. The Government's Marine Protected Areas program helps care for our oceans.

A 'marine protected area' is an area of sea chosen for special protection to care for the plants and animals, special natural formations such as coral reefs, and important human features like shipwrecks. Marine parks, nature reserves and other marine protected areas include: reefs, seagrass beds, archaeological sites, tidal lagoons, mudflats, salt marshes, mangroves, rock platforms, underwater areas on the coast and seabed in deep water. The Great Barrier Reef is Australia's most famous marine protected area.

Turtle returning to the ocean - Credit: Mark Hallam

The Government's Marine Protected Areas Program manages other Australian marine protected areas, including Australia's second and third largest marine protected areas, Macquarie Island Marine Park and the Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters). The Marine Protected Areas Program is also helping to set up new marine protected areas as part of Australia's "National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas".

One of Australia's Marine Protected Areas - Credit: Mark Hallam

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