Western Australia has a long and varied coastline and an abundance of marine life, from whale sharks to tiny corals. The mainland coast of WA is about 13,500 kilometres long and there are 12.6 million hectares of waters under State management (compared, for example, with one million in New South Wales).

Rowboat at sunset. (c) Gary Muir

WA's marine areas are globally significant. WA is regarded as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots for coral reefs: with the State's west coast ranked second (behind southern Japan) in terms of numbers of endemic species (the Gulf of Guinea, the Great Barrier Reef and the Hawaiian Islands were ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively). Apart from a few remote oceanic islands, WA's coastal waters are among the most pristine in the world.

The marine environment of Western Australia is also an important commercial, cultural and recreational resource. For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal people have lived on Western Australia's coast, fishing and collecting shellfish, crustaceans and other marine resources. Today, recreational fishers, divers, surfers, sailors and others all enjoy the benefits of the marine environment. There are important commercial fisheries, which have brought in billions of dollars to the State's economy. Numerous ports are connected to the world by sea lanes traversing the coastline. Production and exploration for petroleum - worth many billions of dollars - is undertaken offshore. Marine nature-based tourism such as whale watching is another important commercial and recreational use.

A new planning initiative aims to ensure the many benefits of our unique marine environment are available for all time.

Put simply, regional marine planning is designed to produce a strategic plan for each marine region, to better integrate the activities of the various marine sectors.