Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas : Guidelines for design and management

Abstract

When the government of Australia created the Great Barrier Reef Region (346,000 km2) in 1975 and subsequently declared parts as sections of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the protected area greatly surpassed all existing marine protected areas (MPAs) in both scope and scale. Yet it would be nearly 30 years before a second LSMPA or areas greater than 150,000 km2 (see Box 1) was declared. Established as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve in 2000, the new site was the first truly remote LSMPA. In 2006, the area was slightly expanded and recognised as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (362,074 km2), and expanded again in 2016 (1,508,870 km2) to become the largest MPA globally