Macquarie Island Marine Park
# Macquarie Island Marine Park

The Macquarie Island Marine Park (previously known as the Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is an Australian marine park near Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific. The marine park covers an area of 162,000 $km^2$ (63,000 sq mi) and is assigned IUCN category IV. It is the largest of the 14 parks managed under the South-east Marine Parks Network. In June 2023, the federal government announced that the park would triple in size, adding an extra 385,000 $km^2$ (149,000 sq mi) of water to the marine park.

## Conservation values

* Examples of ecosystems, habitats and communities associated with the Macquarie Province and associated with the sea-floor features: abyssal plain/deep ocean floor, canyon, escarpment, knoll/abyssal hill, ridge, slope and trench/trough
* Important foraging area for: killer whale, southern elephant seal, Antarctic, Subantarctic and New Zealand fur seals, royal, king, rockhopper and gentoo penguin and wandering albatross.

## History

The Marine Park was originally proclaimed on 20 October 1999 as the Macquarie Island Marine Park. The name of the reserve was later changed on 28 June 2007 to the Macquarie Island Commonwealth marine reserve. The name was changed again in 2017 back to Macquarie Island Marine Park.

## Summary of protection zones

The Macquarie Island Marine Park has been assigned IUCN protected area category IV. However, within the marine park there are two protection zones, each zone has an IUCN category and related rules for managing activities to ensure the protection of marine habitats and species.

The following table is a summary of the zoning rules within the Macquarie Island Marine Park:

| Zone | IUCN | Activities permitted | Activities permitted | Activities permitted | Activities permitted | Activities permitted | Total area $(km^2)$ |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Zone | IUCN | Vessel transiting | Recreational fishing | Commercial fishing | Commercial tourism | Mining | Total area $(km^2)$ |
| Sanctuary Zone | Ia | Yes | No | No | aviation only | No | 58,000 |
| Habitat Protection | IV | Yes | Yes | some, with approval | with approval | No | 104,000 |
| External link: Zoning and rules for the South-east Marine Parks Network ||||||||
