Marine park

Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park

A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peoples and coastal communities.[1] Most marine parks are managed by national governments, and organized like 'watery' national parks, whereas marine protected areas and marine reserves are often managed by a subnational entity or non-governmental organization, such as a conservation authority.[2]

The largest marine park used to be the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, at 350,000 km² until 2010, when the United Kingdom announced the opening of the Chagos Marine Park or Chagos Archipelago.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

In New South Wales, there are planned marine parks which will stretch along the coastline of the entire state.[3]

France and its territories are home to nine marine parks, known as parc naturel marin [fr].[4][5]

  1. ^ ""National Marine Conservation Areas"". Parks Canada. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. ^ ""Conservation Authorities"". Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Type 1 Marine Protected Areas: Marine reserves". www.doc.govt.nz. New Zealand Department of Conservation. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  4. ^ "Délibération 2020-06" (PDF). Office Français de la Biodiversité (in French). 2020-03-03.
  5. ^ "Les parcs naturels marins français" (PDF) (in French). Institut océanographique. December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2021.