The plan takes in more than two million square kilometres of Australia's ocean territory around Victoria, Tasmania, eastern South Australia and southern New South Wales, as well as the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island.
"This Draft Plan is a world first and will assist in the sustainable development of Australia's important marine resources," said Barry Jones, executive director of the Australian Petroleum Production Exploration Association (APPEA).
Jones said the oil and gas exploration and production industry saw three important positives to come out of the process:
"For the first time we have an integrated database combining all our collective knowledge of this important region and we now have a process that will streamline the regulatory arrangements in place and fill in any gaps in management.
"Also there is the recognition that adaptive management arrangements are the only way of producing ongoing sustainability gains, given the paucity of our current knowledge base."
Launching the draft South-east Regional Marine Plan in Melbourne, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage Dr David Kemp said the regional marine plan is the first of a series that will cover Australia's 16 million square kilometres of ocean territory.
"It will put in place for the first time a whole of government framework for decision-making on oceans issues in Commonwealth waters. This will ensure that key ecosystems are protected, providing for the sustainable development of marine industries currently values at more than $30 billion a year.
Dr Kemp said that the new system of oceans management contained in Australia's Oceans Policy would equip us to avoid the resource management mistakes that have occurred in marine environments in other parts of the world.
"In the Northern hemisphere some of the most productive fisheries, such as the North Atlantic cod and pilchard fisheries have virtually collapsed, resulting in the devastation of ecosystems and the economies that depend upon them," Dr Kemp said.
"The unique feature of Australia's approach is its recognition of all users of our ocean, from commercial and recreational fishers, Indigenous Australians, the conservation sector, industries such as oil and gas, shipping and tourism and our coastal communities.
"For the first time this integrated system of oceans management takes all uses of our oceans into account rather than the sector-by-sector approach that was used previously. In this way, we take account of the cumulative effects of these ocean uses, on each other as well as on ecosystems, upon which regional marine planning is based."
