Campaigns
Marine Sanctuaries: Twofold Shelf Bioregion

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The Twofold Shelf Marine Bioregion covers an area of cool temperate waters from south of the town of Tathra on the far south coast of NSW, where it extends to Victoria extending south to the Bass Strait and Tasmanian state waters.

The NSW marine jurisdiction is just 2% of the entire Bioregion but still covers an area of about 62,620 ha. This portion also contains 19 small estuaries ranging in size from 3 ha to 3,000 ha.

Existing marine protected areas

- There are three marine protected areas within the Victorian section of the Twofold Shelf marine Bioregion; Ninety Mile Beach (2,750 ha), Point Hicks (4000 ha) and Cape Howe (4050 ha) Marine National Parks. Estuarine ecosystems and habitats are not well represented within the Victorian marine protected areas.

- There are no Marine Parks or Aquatic Reserves in the NSW section of the Twofold Shelf marine Bioregion. However, there are nine National Park estate marine extensions. There are no restrictions on fishing in these marine extensions.

This means there is no sanctuary protection within the NSW section of the Twofold Shelf Marine Bioregion.

New marine protected areas

The NSW section of the Twofold Shelf Marine Bioregion requires some sanctuary protection to preserve its marine life. NPA~Marine is calling on the NSW Government to create a marine park for this portion of the bioregion with sanctuary zonings over the marine park's most important marine habitats.

Such a marine park could help protect:

- Threatened birds and marine mammals

- Large inshore reef areas

- Inshore islands and rocks

- Important seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh areas

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