The Australian Government commissioned the independent review of the Commonwealth Marine Reserves that were established in November 2012.

The Review considered what management arrangements would best protect our marine environment and accommodate the many activities that Australians love to enjoy in our oceans and aimed to restore confidence in Commonwealth marine reserves, by ensuring that management arrangements for the reserves reflect genuine and thorough consultation with stakeholders and are informed by the best available science.

In 2016, reports were provided to the Australian Government by Professor Colin Buxton and Mr Peter Cochrane, who chaired the Bioregional Advisory Panel, and Associate Professor Bob Beeton, who chaired the Expert Scientific Panel.

Copies of these reports can be found below.

Bioregional Advisory Panel Report

As part of the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review, five Bioregional Advisory Panels were appointed to consult across sectors and to provide advice to Government. These panels were appointed for the South-west, North-west, North, Temperate East and Coral Sea marine regions.

Individual maps contained in the Bioregional Advisory Panel Report are available in high resolution below.

• Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review Report of the Bioregional Advisory Panel (Full report, PDF – 7.65 MB)

• Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review Report of the Bioregional Advisory Panel (Full report, high resolution version, PDF – 17.3 MB)

• Transmittal letter and Table of contents (PDF – 644.99 KB)

• Executive summary

• Chapter 1 – Introduction (PDF – 125.96 KB)

• Chapter 2 – Consultation messages (PDF – 190.94 KB)

• Chapter 3 – Advice from the Expert Scientific Panel (PDF – 226.71 KB)

• Chapter 4 – Recommended Commonwealth marine reserves zoning (PDF – 127.94 KB)

• Chapter 4.1 – North Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network (PDF – 1.22 MB)

• Chapter 4.2 – North-West Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network (PDF – 958.03 KB)

• Chapter 4.3 – South-West Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network (PDF – 1.72 MB)

• Chapter 4.4 – Temperate East Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network (PDF – 1.38 MB)

• Chapter 4.5 – Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve (PDF – 1.52 MB)

• Chapter 4.6 – Recommendations to support consistency of zoning (PDF – 112.53 KB)

• Chapter 4.7 – Commonwealth marine reserves with no recommended changes (PDF – 185.01 KB)

• Chapter 4.8 – Estate-wide performance of the options (PDF – 317.88 KB)

• Chapter 5 – Inclusion of social and economic considerations into decision-making (PDF – 198.99 KB)

• Chapter 6 – Ongoing engagement with regional stakeholders (PDF – 157.27 KB)

• Chapter 7 – Comments and advice on Commonwealth marine reserve management plans (PDF – 183.15 KB)

• Chapter 8 – Other recommendations and observations (PDF – 162.81 KB)

• Chapter 9 – Acknowledgements (PDF – 85.39 KB)

• Appendices (PDF – 1.02 MB)

Expert Scientific Panel Report

As part of the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review, an independent Expert Scientific Panel was appointed to provide advice to government.

The Expert Scientific Panel included recognised scientists selected for their capacity to provide independent scientific advice on the science supporting the Commonwealth Marine Reserves including proposed zoning and allowed uses.

• Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review Report of the Expert Scientific Panel (Full report) (PDF – 3.17 MB)

• Transmittal Letter and Table of contents (PDF – 599.18 KB)

• Executive Summary (PDF – 47.98 KB)

• Chapter 1 – Introduction (PDF – 41.31 KB)

• Chapter 2 – History of Commonwealth marine reserves in Australia and review of the science used for the design of the 2012 reserves (PDF – 446.29 KB)

• Chapter 3 – Assessments of new scientific information to support Commonwealth marine reserve zoning and management decisions (PDF – 1.74 MB)

• Chapter 4 – Establishing robust, evidence-based decision-making for the management of the marine reserves (PDF – 141.97 KB)

• Appendices (PDF – 42.65 KB)

Maps and data

The maps and data provided should be considered in conjunction with the details contained in the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review Report of the Bioregional Advisory Panel.

Shapefiles

• Review recommended zoning

Maps

North

• North Network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves

• West Cape York Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Gulf of Carpentaria Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Limmen Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Wessel Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Arafura Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve

North-west

• North-west Network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves

• Kimberley Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Argo Rowley Terrace Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Dampier Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Gascoyne Commonwealth Marine Reserve

South-west

• South-west Network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves

• Two Rocks Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Perth Canyon Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Geographe Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• South-west Corner Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Bremer Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Eastern Recherche Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Twilight Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Western Eyre Commonwealth Marine Reserve

Temperate East

• Temperate East Network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves

• Jervis Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Hunter Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Solitary Islands Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Central Eastern Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Lord Howe Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Norfolk Commonwealth Marine Reserve

Coral Sea

• Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve

• Bougainville Reef

• Cato Reef

• Dianne Bank, Moore Reefs and Willis Islets

• Flinders Reefs

• Fraser Seamount

• Frederick Reefs

• Holmes Reefs

• Lihou Reef

• Marion Reef

• Osprey Reef, Shark Reef and Vema Reef

• Saumarez Reefs

• Tregosse Reefs

• Wreck Reefs

Spatial data sources

The following spatial data was used in preparing the maps above.

• Beaman, R.J., 2010. Project 3DGBR: A high-resolution depth model for the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) Project 2.5i.1a Final Report, MTSRF, Cairns, Australia, pp. 13 plus Appendix 1.

• CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (2009): Predicted seabed assemblage patterns of marine fauna for the East, North, North-west and South-west Marine Regions

• Department of the Environment (2006): Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA) v4.0

• Department of the Environment (2011): Bathomes in Australian waters

• Department of the Environment (2014): Australia’s Network of Commonwealth Marine Reserves

• Department of the Environment (2014): Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database

• Department of the Environment (2014): Marine Key Ecological Features

• Department of the Environment (2015): World Heritage Areas: Australia

• ESRI Australia Pty Ltd (1992): ARCWORLD World Dataset 1:3 million

• Geoscience Australia (2003): GEODATA TOPO 2.5M

• Geoscience Australia (2004): GEODATA TOPO 100k—Coastline

• Geoscience Australia (2004): Geomorphic Features of Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone

• Geoscience Australia (2005): Australian Bathymetry and Topography

• Geoscience Australia (2006): GEODATA TOPO 250k

• Geoscience Australia (2014): Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) v3.0

ABARES commercial fishing displacement analysis

This ABARES report provides an assessment of the Panel’s final recommended internal zoning and permitted activities (‘the Panel-recommended network’), with comparisons made to the network proclaimed in November 2012 (‘the proclaimed network’).

Downloads

• Commercial fishing displacement under the Panel-recommended Commonwealth marine reserve zoning scheme (PDF – 1.61 MB)