Marine parks in Australia
Australia's marine life out in its natural habitat is best found in its marine parks. The best known marine park is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, but there are many more marine parks that have something to offer.
| Conservation areas in Australia topics: National parks • Marine parks • Indigenous Protected Areas State/territory national parks: NSW • NT • Qld • SA • Tas. • Vic. • WA |
Understand
Unlike national parks in Australia, the management of marine parks gets a bit complex, because some are managed by the state governments (and the Northern Territory government), some are managed by the federal government while others are comanaged by both the state/territory and the federal government. The 58 (excluding the Great Barrier Reef) marine parks that are managed by the federal government are managed by Parks Australia with the sole exception of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Australian marine parks
Parks Australia divides the Australian Marine Park network into five different networks. All of them fall into one of these network, with the exception of the Coral Sea Marine Park and the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve. They include
- North
- Arafura Marine Park
- Arnhem Marine Park
- Gulf of Carpentaria Marine Park
- Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Marine Park
- Limmen Marine Park
- Oceanic Shoals Marine Park
- West Cape York Marine Park
- Wessel Marine Park
- Northwest
- Southwest
- Abrolhos Marine Park
- Bremer Marine Park
- Eastern Recherche Marine Park
- Geographe Marine Park
- Great Australian Bight Marine Park
- Jurien Marine Park
- Murat Marine Park
- Perth Canyon Marine Park
- South-west Corner Marine Park
- Southern Kangaroo Island Marine Park
- Twilight Marine Park
- Two Rocks Marine Park
- Western Eyre Marine Park
- Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park
- Southeast
- Temperate East