A marine park is a park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) sometimes protected for recreational use, but more often set aside to preserve a specific habitat and ensure the ecosystem is sustained for the organisms that exist there. Most marine parks are designated by governments, and organized like 'watery' national parks.
The largest marine park is the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, at 350,000 km².
Although for many uses it is sufficient to designate the boundaries of the marine park and to inform commercial fishing boats and other maritime enterprises, some parks have gone to additional effort to make their wonders accessible to visitors. These can range from glass-bottomed boats and small submarines, to windowed undersea tubes.
In New Zealand a marine reserve is an area which has a higher degree of legal protection than marine parks for conservation purposes.
In New South Wales, there are planned marine parks which will stretch along the coastline of the entire state.
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As of April 2008 there are no high seas marine reserves, but Greenpeace is campaigning for the "doughnut holes" of the western pacific to be declared as marine reserves.[2] They are also campaigning for 40 percent of the world’s oceans to be protected as marine reserves.[3]
Australia The Australian Government manages an estate of marine protected areas (MPA) that are Commonwealth reserves under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
New South Wales These are referred aquatic reserves declared under the Fisheries Management Act 1994
Micronesia
New Zealand
Papua NG
Philippines
Samoa
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