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Australia is adding an area of the Indian Ocean bigger than France to its network of marine parks in an attempt to keep out international fishing boats and promote scientific discovery in two biodiversity hotspots.

The Federal Government is to make an additional $100-million available to manage ocean habitats and coastal environments and, it says, contribute to the fight against climate change.

The agreement provides for the joint management and joint vesting of the existing Ningaloo Marine Park (260,000 hectares) and Cape Range National Park (50,000 hectares), as well as the creation of about 78,000 hectares of new conservation areas extending over approximately 215 kilometres of the N

Arnavon Islands, located between Isabel and Choiseul provinces, is today the country’s first community marine park following a government gazette on Wednesday 10th May 2017 declaring it as an official designated protected area.

The health of our coastal waters is on the rocks – can marine parks save it, or is it too little too late?...Climate change, coastal development, over-fishing and increased ship traffic are all having devastating effects on our marine life.