Before a marine conservation reserve can be created, the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 requires the release of an Indicative Management Plan to give the community an opportunity to comment on the proposal.

At the end of the public submission period all submissions received are reviewed and the Marine Parks and Reserves Authority may make recommendations to the Minister for the Environment to amend the indicative management plan based on feedback from the community.

The Minister for the Environment will then seek concurrence from the Ministers for State Development and Fisheries to create marine reserve. The Minister for the Environment will then approve a final management plan for the reserve and a summary of the public submissions will be published.

The following indicative management plans have been released by the Minister for the Environment for public comment. The information in brackets is the date of release and the closing date for submissions respectively. They can be viewed/printed by clicking on the appropriate link and are supplied here as free, downloadable Adobe Acrobat Files (get Acrobat Reader here).

Proposed Marine Conservation Reserves (MCRs)

• Geographe Bay/Leeuwin-Naturaliste/Hardy Inlet ('The Capes')
• Walpole Nornalup Indicative Management Plan (4.72 MB)
• Dampier Archipelago-Cape Preston (Proposal)