The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has declared Australia will soon protect more ocean than any other country after the government finalises a more than 300,000 square kilometre expansion of a sub-Antarctic marine park.Speaking ahead of what was billed as a global nature positive summit starting in Sydney on Tuesday, Plibersek confirmed the Heard and McDonald Island Marine Park about 4,000 km south-west of Perth would quadruple in size.
She said the decision meant Australia would protect 52% of its ocean territory, far more than the global 30% target by 2030 that the government signed up to two years ago.
Science organisations planned to use the summit to highlight what they say is Australian governments’ failure to invest at the level needed to protect the environment, which a major government review found was in poor and deteriorating health.
An alliance of 27 environment groups under the banner Save Our Marine Life largely welcomed the marine park announcement but said some areas important to albatross, penguins, seals and fish had not been given the sanctuary-level protection that scientists had recommended.
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ national oceans manager, Fiona Maxwell, said the two islands were “wildlife havens”, and the decision meant the bulk of the waters around them would be free from mining and the creation of new pelagic fisheries targeting mackerel icefish and Patagonian toothfish.
But she said important undersea canyons and seamounts had not been included in sanctuaries. “Even the government’s own science report said there was inadequate protection for a range of seafloor habitats, foraging areas for albatross and macaroni penguins, and areas supporting an abundance and variety of fish,” Maxwell said.