IT IS being hailed as one of the most important steps ever for marine conservation. Proposals set out by Australian politicians will make the Great Barrier Reef part of the largest network of marine sanctuaries in the world. They are the culmination of a decades-long shift in the political mindset from exploitation of the reefs to conservation.
The new zoning regulations were tabled in the Australian parliament on 3 December and are expected to pass into law without opposition early next year. They rezone the entire Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which extends from the coast of Australia across the…
