The History of Tasmanian marine parks

It seems that ideas like marine parks are a new idea, but of course there is nothing original under the sun. The idea of ‘national parks’ in the water has been around since people started talking about protecting wilderness habitat for nature on land. As far back as the 1860s Tasmanians were alarmed by heavy hunting pressure.  It led to the first reserves for ‘scenic purposes’ in the 1870s, about the time the world’s first national park was created, Yellowstone in the USA. In 1902, naturalists called for “permanently reserving areas of sea and land in Tasmania for scientific and other public purpose”. Most marine reserves declared before 1960 were limited to wildlife sanctuaries for wading birds and their habitat, despite concern at the time that human activity further out to sea was virtually unregulated. The most noticeable supporters of reserves were bushwalkers, amateur naturalists and hunters. Many hunters were concerned by the gradual decline in the natural qualities of the areas they enjoyed visiting.

Around the world MPAs tend to be established ad hoc. They usually start with biologists arguing for an MPA to preserve biodiversity. Their request is often “adjusted” by stakeholders until it no longer had much basis in science.

The new Tasmanian strategy was to try to have a more systematic and planned approach. In 1991 the Tasmanian Government announced the Marine Reserves Strategy and designation of the state’s first marine reserves in four locations  (Nine Pin Point, Tinderbox, Maria Island, Governor Island).  All political parties produced policies broadly supporting the establishment of new marine reserves. From 2000-2004 new marine parks were declared around Macquarie Island, the Kent Group in Bass Strait and Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour.

In 2007, a very exhaustive and detailed process to create marine parks in the more populated areas of SE Tasmania was attempted. The MPA process broke down after more vocal recreational fishing groups got the  then Labor Minister to effectively abandon the process. The Tribunal hearing the issue recommended 23 new marine reserves including nine no-take zones. Instead, the Government created 14 “marine conservation areas”, with no real protections. The Liberal Party then announced a moratorium on new parks and there has been little activity since.

A considerable amount of effort went into high level planning to try and create an international system of marine protected areas, but it was stopped dead by powerful political opposition.

The issue of MPAs hasn’t gone away. It’s an idea that fundamentally appeals to people who have seen it work so well on land. An awareness of the degraded ‘naturalness’ of our marine environment is not going to go away, only grow. It is supported by a significant amount of science and it’s an iconic idea in our culture.

It’s also getting some support from people like you who want to do something achievable to slow the rapid pace of environmental degradation, and try to protect special areas.