Expansion of Macquarie Island Marine Park

The proposed expansion significantly improves the effectiveness of the marine park to protect the natural values of the area while also allowing the existing, sustainably-managed Macquarie Island Toothfish Fishery to continue.

The waters surrounding Macquarie Island contain a variety of exceptional pelagic and demersal
characteristics, which drive the distribution of species and habitats. In order to best manage these areas
for both conservation and sustainable use, it is necessary to understand the diversity of habitats across the
entire region of the EEZ surrounding Macquarie Island.

The overview of proposed activity prescriptions for the proposed extension to the Macquarie Island Marine Park provide a sensible balance between conservation and sustainable fishing practices.

Many of the seabirds that utilise the waters surrounding Macquarie Island forage over an extensive part of the Southern Ocean as well as parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. While the success of the mitigation measures used in the Macquarie Island longline fishery mean that the risk posed to these species by interactions with that fishery is low the same cannot be said for the other fisheries that might be encountered across their extensive foraging areas. At present the Macquarie Island longline fishery for Patagonian toothfish is relatively low in terms of its spatial footprint and impact on non-target species. However, future projections of ocean warming suggest the potential for warmer water pelagic species to occur in the EEZ potentially resulting in opportunities for new fisheries to develop. If these fisheries were to commence they would present a risk to a number of the threatened seabirds that breed and/or feed in the region. This highlights the importance of the proposed Macquarie Island Marine Park into the future.