The new approach to marine park management uses an evidence-based approach to conserve not just environmental, but also social, cultural and economic values of marine parks, while reducing threats to those values.

The new Network Management Plan has been prepared with extensive input from the five local marine park advisory committees, engagement with Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities and consideration of more than 1200 submissions from the community across NSW on a draft of the plan.

The new approach to marine park management planning aims to conserve environmental, social, cultural and economic values, and manage priority threats to those values.

The new approach builds on pilot work that started in Batemans and Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Parks in 2018-19 and a strong evidence-base including the:

• Marine estate community survey (2014)
• Threat and risk assessment (2017)
• Marine estate management strategy (2018-2028)
• Batemans and Port Stephens-Great Lakes pilot process and associated reports:
  • Batemans Marine Park Management Plan Pilot – Stakeholder Consultation Outcomes Report
  • Developing a management plan for Batemans Marine Park: Summary of discussions and outcomes from Aboriginal community workshops
  • Survey of values, perceptions of threats and attitudes to Batemans Marine Park
  • Port Stephens—Great Lakes Marine Park Consultation Workshops – Outcomes Report