The first regional marine planning process is under way for WA's south coast for State waters between Cape Leeuwin and the South Australian border. Western Australian State waters extend three nautical miles (approximately five kilometres) from the mainland coast and also for three nautical miles around islands that lie permanently above the high water mark. Hence, in areas such as the Recherche Archipelago, State waters extend up to approximately 30 nautical miles from the mainland coast.

Aboriginal fish traps at Oyster Harbour

This exercise will be one of the first of its kind in Australia and will place WA among the front-runners in regional marine planning worldwide. Marine stakeholders on the south coast and elsewhere will be encouraged to have their say on the key issues affecting the south coast marine environment.

To ensure that the south coast regional marine planning process is scientifically robust, existing information about the region's marine environment will be collected together for the first time, and included in a geographic information system. Marine habitat types, fisheries and aquaculture data, marine plant and animal distribution, Aboriginal interests and recreation, tourism and port usage information will all be included, enabling comparison of the different information layers and the production of maps to aid the planning process.

Download the LANDSCOPE article, Oceans of Opportunity for our Southern Coast  ( 1002.6 Kb), or the Western Fisheries article, Planning for the Future of our Southern Coast  ( 1.3 Mb).