The National Marine Science Plan: informing Australia’s future ocean policy

In 1998 the Australian Government released ‘Australia’s Ocean Policy: Caring, Understanding, Using Wisely’ (Environment Australia 1998a). The policy, released in the International Year of Oceans, recognised that our oceans contain resources of enormous past, present and future benefit to us all – resources that must be managed carefully to ensure economic benefit exists side by side with sensitive environmental care. This pioneering policy attempted to set a framework for integrated and ecosystem-based planning and management for all of Australia’s marine jurisdictions but lacked input and therefore buy-in from state and territory jurisdictions.