Marine protected areas in Tasmania: moving beyond the policy void

The island state of Tasmania has an internationally renowned protected area system on land and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) is the jewel in the crown. The total terrestrial reserved area is nearly 3.5 million ha, representing just over half the land mass of the state. Few jurisdictions in the world have this extensive level of reserved area. In stark contrast to the terrestrial reserve system, however, is the Tasmanian marine reserve estate. The area of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Tasmania is only 135 000 ha, with sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island accounting for 55% of this total. Excluding Macquarie Island, only 1.12% of the Tasmanian State Waters is designated a no-take zone, with all marine reserve classes representing 2.67%. From these figures alone, it is obvious that the conservation of Tasmanian marine biodiversity is severely lacking and the state does not meet the minimum guidelines adopted by all Australian governments as part of the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (ANZECC 1998). Moreover, the present Tasmanian Government (as at 2015) has shown no interest in supporting new MPAs and has placed a moratorium on the expansion of the MPA system (Tasmanian Liberals 2014).

The aim of this chapter is to determine why progress in the declaration and management of Tasmanian MPAs has been so glacially slow. The chapter commences with an introduction of the history and development of the Tasmanian MPA network paying particular attention to overlapping jurisdictional arrangements. This is followed by a review of the Tasmanian marine reserve estate and an assessment of the bioregions that fail to meet minimum MPA representation. The current MPA policy void is introduced and the Bruny bioregion inquiry into the establishment of MPAs assessed to shed light on hurdles facing future MPA designations. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the challenges facing future MPA designations and suggests incremental changes that could assist in supporting existing MPAs.