Australian government to declare almost a third of its oceans ‘highly protected’ in the next five years

<p>Murray Watt tells UN conference in France a review of Australia’s marine parks will ‘lay the foundation’ for increasing ocean protections</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/sign-up-for-the-clear-air-australia-environment-newsletter-with-adam-morton?CMP=cvau_sfl">Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here</a></p></li></ul><p>The Australian government plans to declare 30% of its ocean “highly protected” by 2030, raising expectations from conservationists it will ban fishing and drilling in nearly a third of the country’s waters.</p><p>The environment minister, Murray Watt, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/06/fishing-ocean-un-summit-france-macron-bottom-trawling-french-marine-protected-areas">the UN Ocean Conference in France</a> a review of 44 of Australia’s marine parks would “lay the foundation” to increase the area of the country’s ocean with higher levels of protection.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/sign-up-for-the-clear-air-australia-environment-newsletter-with-adam-morton?CMP=copyembed">Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter</a></strong></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/09/australian-government-to-declare-almost-a-third-of-its-oceans-highly-protected-in-the-next-five-years">Continue reading...</a>