This data contains spatial and contextual information about Australian Marine Parks proclaimed under the Commonwealth Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which are managed by Parks Australia, with the addition of Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve, which is managed by the Australian Antarctic Division. The Australian Marine Parks include the North, North-west, South-west, South-east and Temperate East Networks, the Coral Sea Marine Park, and the Indian Ocean Territories Marine Parks. These parks were established in Commonwealth waters consistent with the Australian Government’s commitment to develop a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas.More information can be found at:Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve – Australian Antarctic ProgramThis dataset does not include marine protected areas in other Australian jurisdictions (e.g. the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, State/Territory marine parks), or terrestrial protected areas with marine components (e.g. Pulu Keeling National Park). More information can be found at:Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaMore information about the zoning and rules for activities for each of the networks can be found here:Coral Sea: Coral Sea Marine Park | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaIndian Ocean Territories: Indian Ocean Territories Marine Parks | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaNorth network: North Marine Parks Network | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaNorth-west network: North-west Marine Parks Network | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaSouth-east network: South-east Marine Parks Network | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaSouth-west network: South-west Marine Parks Network | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaTemperate East: Temperate East Marine Parks Network | Australian Marine Parks | Parks AustraliaSince this dataset was originally published in 2018 there have been the following updates:1. A technical amendment was made on the basis of user feedback (April 30th 2019). Macquarie Island was the only marine park affected by this amendment. The area calculation for Macquarie Island Marine Park was previously under reported by 483km2. This will have affected statistical analyses that used the calculated area (KM2) as an input. This amendment is superseded by item 4 below.2. A zoning boundary error identified at West Island in Ashmore Reef Marine Park was corrected (March 2022).3. Two new Australian Marine Parks were added to this dataset in March 2022; Christmas Island Marine Park and Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park.4. The addition of the expanded Macquarie Island Marine Park which came into effect on 1 July 2023, replacing the boundaries of the original marine park proclaimed in 1999.5. The expanded Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve took effect on 24 January 2025. 6. The South-east Marine Parks zoning updates under the new management plan came into effect on 13 February 2025.
