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Latest News!! Public Consultation Now
On Latest on NSW Marine
Parks Background Support Sanctuaries
NOW! The Great Lakes - Port Stephens Marine Park came into effect on 1 December 2005. It stretches from Cape Hawke Surf Life Saving Club near Forster to Birubi Beach Surf Life Saving Club at the northern end of Stockton Beach. It encompasses whale and dolphin hotspots, Grey Nurse Shark key habitat sites and other important areas for conservation and includes Port Stephens, Myall Lakes and Smiths Lakes. Your input is needed to support well placed sanctuaries within the park to ensure that its habitats and wildlife are safeguarded in the final zoning for the park. Created in April 2006 the Batemans Marine Park stretches from the northern end of Murramarang Beach to Wallaga Lake on NSW South Coast. It's zoning is currently being decided. You can have input on sanctuary protection within this park. The area includes important conservation areas including key habitat sites for the Grey Nurse Shark at the Tollgate Islands and Montague Island. Creating Sanctuaries in Marine Parks Following the creation of marine parks, public consultation determines zoning within the park. Since marine parks are multi-use they allow all activities aside from mining to continue within their boundaries so fishing, diving, boating and swimming are permitted. Marine sanctuaries are fully protected zones which safeguard the marine life and habitats of their area. To ensure marine parks is effective at conserving its wildlife we need to ensure that sanctuaries form a major component of the park. Marine parks, if zoned properly with large and well placed sanctuaries, can safeguard our marine life, allow fishing to continue in a sustainable way whilst attracting tourists to the area and boosting the economic future of the region. |