Macquarie Island Marine Park Explained

Macquarie Island Marine Park
Iucn Category:	IV
Coords:	-56.187°N 161.64°W
Coords Ref:	^[1]
Location:	Australia
Area Km2:	475,465
Established:	20 October 1999
Operator:	Parks Australia
Website:	https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/parks/south-east

The Macquarie Island Marine Park (previously known as the Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is an Australian marine park surrounding Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific. The marine park covers an area of 475465km2 and is assigned IUCN category IV. It is the largest of the 14 parks managed under the South-east Marine Parks Network.^[2]

Conservation values

• Examples of ecosystems, habitats and communities associated with the Macquarie Province and associated with the sea-floor features: abyssal plain/deep ocean floor, canyon, escarpment, knoll/abyssal hill, ridge, slope and trench/trough
• Important foraging area for: killer whale, southern elephant seal, Antarctic, Subantarctic and New Zealand fur seals, royal, king, rockhopper and gentoo penguin and wandering albatross.^[3]

History

The Marine Park was originally proclaimed on 20 October 1999 as the Macquarie Island Marine Park. The name of the reserve was later changed on 28 June 2007 to the Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve.^[2] The name was changed again in 2017 back to Macquarie Island Marine Park.^[4]

In early 2023, the federal government announced that the park would triple in size, adding an extra 385000km2 of protected water to the existing 162000km2 of marine park.^[5] This expansion came into effect on 1 July 2023.^[6]

Summary of protection zones

The Macquarie Island Marine Park has been assigned IUCN protected area category IV. However, within the marine park there are three protection zones, each zone has an IUCN category and related rules for managing activities to ensure the protection of marine habitats and species.^[2]

The following table is a summary of the zoning rules within the Macquarie Island Marine Park:^[2]

Zone	IUCN	Activities permitted					Total area (km^2)
		Vessel transiting	Recreational fishing	Commercial fishing	Commercial tourism	Mining
Sanctuary Zone	Ia	No	No	No	aviation only (>3000m)	No	57,056
National Park Zone	II	Yes	No	No	authorisation required	No	385,127
Habitat Protection	IV	Yes	No	authorisation required	authorisation required	No	33,282
External links: Activity prescriptions for Macquarie Island Marine Park;Proposal to expand Macquarie Marine Park

See also

• Protected areas managed by the Australian government

References

^[7]

External links

• South-east Marine Parks Network - Parks Australia
• South-east Marine Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network - environment.gov.au (outdated)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Relation: Macquarie Island Marine Park (8444307) . OpenStreetMap. August 15, 2018.
2. Web site: South-east Marine Parks Network Management Plan 2013-23 . August 14, 2018 . Parks Australia.
3. Web site: Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve . environment.gov.au . 15 August 2018 . © Commonwealth of Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU) .
4. Web site: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Commonwealth Marine Reserves Renaming) Proclamation 2017 . legislation.gov.au . 15 August 2018.
5. News: MacDonald . Lucy . 5 June 2023 . Macquarie Island marine park set to almost triple in size . 6 June 2023 . . Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
6. Web site: Macquarie Island Marine Park . 2024-03-08 . parksaustralia.gov.au . en-au.
7. Web site: South-east Marine Parks Network . 2024-03-08 . parksaustralia.gov.au . en-au.