Abrolhos Islands National Park plans

The WA State Government has announced it will create the Abrolhos Islands National Park covering the land component of about 90 per cent of the islands.

Premier Colin Barnett said this would not only ensure that the extraordinary and unique environment and heritage of the Abrolhos was protected for our children and future West Australians, it would also open up the islands to more tourism opportunities. 

It would also ensure ongoing access for commercial and recreational fishermen.

"The Abrolhos are the jewel in the crown of the Mid-West coast, but have been largely untapped for tourism purposes. This new arrangement will ensure better access and also lead to better visitor facilities on the islands," he said.

The 123 Abrolhos islands exist in four groups. About 10 per cent or 21 of the islands currently contain some fishing infrastructure, including fishermen's shacks and private jetties, as well as Department of Fisheries' infrastructure.

The Abrolhos Islands National Park will cover the unoccupied islands and will be managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife, while the waters will continue to be managed by the Department of Fisheries as a Fish Protection Zone.

Those islands, currently accessed by fishermen under the terms of their commercial rock lobster fishing licences, will also continue to be managed by Fisheries.

"Arrangements for the commercial and recreational fishermen who currently use the islands will remain unchanged. The rock lobster fishing interests and the aquaculture operations will continue to operate under the management of the Department of Fisheries," Mr Barnett said.

The Premier said the tourism potential of the islands was vast and Geraldton was an ideal base for visitors to the Abrolhos.

"As a regional centre within a reasonably short drive from Perth, the benefits to Geraldton will be significant," he said.

"In addition to activities such as diving on coral reefs, sightseeing, walking, fishing and whale watching, the Abrolhos are extraordinarily important historically as the site of several shipwrecks, including the Batavia, leading to one of the most chilling tales of shipwreck and mutiny in Australian history."

Mr Barnett said initial infrastructure improvement efforts would focus on the Wallabi group of islands, with improved facilities such as an upgraded jetty and camping facilities.

Currently, WA has 13 marine parks including the newly created marine parks at Walpole and Nornalup Inlets, Ngari Capes, Eighty Mile Beach and Camden Sound. The Government is committed to new marine parks in the Kimberley at Roebuck Bay, Horizontal Falls and North Kimberley, with an extension of the proposed North Kimberley Marine Park to the Northern Territory border.

Creation of all of the proposed new marine reserves will increase the total area of the State's marine parks and reserves from about 1.5 million hectares to more than five million hectares since the Government came to office in 2008, more than a 200 per cent increase. More on the Abrolhos Islands.

Photo Credit: All photos from http://www.ecoabrolhos.com.au, which stages tours to the Abrolhos Islands. More at their website.