Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00327:front:0:p12
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00327
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 31345–34367

outlined in Part 1, in managing marine parks, the Director will need to make decisions about what activities can occur in the marine parks and what actions to take to manage them. This will involve the Director making decisions that carefully balance the need to protect natural, cultural, heritage and socio-economic values of marine parks with enabling use and managing pressures.
In making these decisions, the Director will carefully consider the impacts and risks to natural, cultural, heritage or socio-economic values for the relevant marine park/s. The values of the Coral Sea Marine Park are set out in Schedule 2 and Figure 2.2 shows Indigenous Protected Areas established near the Coral Sea Marine Park. The Director will also consider any positive impacts associated with allowing an activity, such as socio-economic or cultural benefits, and ensure that activities are undertaken in a manner that minimises negative impacts.
For some areas, such as the Coringa–Herald and Lihou Reefs, there is a relatively strong understanding of values. Where there is less information, environmental features are used as indicators for the types of species and habitats likely to occur. These include bioregions, water depth, seafloor features and key ecological features (Schedule 3).
As understanding of marine park values improves over the life of this plan, the Director will make new information about values available on the Parks Australia website. Other important sources of information on values (also on the Department's website) include:
  * Species profile and threats database for protected species;
  * Directory of important wetlands in Australia;
  * Australian heritage database for natural, historic and Indigenous heritage places;
  * Australian national shipwreck database for known shipwrecks;
  * National Conservation Values Atlas; and
  * East marine bioregional plan: bioregional profile (2009).
Figure 2.2 Indigenous Protected Areas established near the Coral Sea Marine Park

Pressures in the Coral Sea Marine Park
Pressures are human-driven processes, events and activities that, if left unchecked, may impact on marine park values. Contemporary drivers of environmental change in the marine environment include population growth and economic activity, and related pressures such as increased vessel activity, marine debris, climate extremes and ocean warming. Figure 2.3 shows the types of uses occurring in the Coral Sea Marine Park. These present key challenges for biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of our marine resources.
Australia's 2016 State of the environment report reviewed pressures on Australia's marine environment and determined that they were low by global standards. However, given that more than 85 per cent of Australians live within 50 km of the sea, and with Australia's population of approximately 24.4 million projected to grow to 39.7 million by 2055, pressures on the marine environment are likely to increase.
Although pressures on marine ecosystems