Australia's 2nd largest marine park created

The WA government has announced plans to create new Kimberley wilderness parks.

There will be four new marine parks, a new national park and additional land conservation reserves which will cover an area more than half the size of Tasmania.

The protected region includes the largest humpback whale nursery in the southern hemisphere at Camden Sound.

The Premier Colin Barnett says the Great Kimberley marine park will extend from Montgomery Reef in the south to Cape Londonderry in the north, making it Australia's second largest marine park behind the Great Barrier reef park.

It will include two sanctuary zones which are designated no-take areas.

Mineral and petroleum exploration or drilling are barred from those zones as are commercial and recreational fishing.
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Update 22 Oct: New marine parks created in Kimberley

22 Oct: Conservationists slam new marine park
Green groups say the new Kimberley marine park announced today by the state government will do little to protect marine life.

But conservationists are concerned that the park will not include sufficient sanctuaries to offer full protection for marine life.

Jessica Meeuwig, a research professor with the Oceans Institute at the University of Western Australia describes the announcement as woefully inadequate.

"Effectively marine parks without sanctuary zones are like a Ferrari with a lawnmower engine - they don't actually offer any real protection and my concern is that we will look at this announcement and say that's fantastic, we've protected the Kimberley and we actually haven't done that."