Qualla: Kimberley Marine Park

Kimberley Marine Park: Introduction

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0. In December 2016, the North Kimberley Marine Park was gazetted. It covered 6,600 square kilometres. The announcement immediately generated 17,000 public submissions — an extraordinary number for a marine protected area in one of Australia's most sparsely populated regions. The submissions came from recreational fishers, from Aboriginal communities, from conservation groups, and from commercial operators. They disagreed sharply on who had the right to fish these waters, and in what quantities. A revised plan followed in November 2021. The argument continues. It is, at its core, an argument about what these waters are for.

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Image: Frank Vincentz | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kimberley Marine Park: The Scale of It

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kimberley Marine Park — proclaimed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act in 2013 — covers 74,469 square kilometres of water off the coast of Western Australia. It is one of thirteen parks managed under the North-west Marine Parks Network, which st...

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Image: Frank Vincentz | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kimberley Marine Park: What Lives Here

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kimberley coast hosts one of the most biologically significant stretches of water in Australia. Humpback whales use the warm, sheltered bays of the Kimberley as nursery grounds — migrating from Antarctica to calve in the protected inlets before returning south. The marine par...

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Image: Frank Vincentz | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kimberley Marine Park: Whose Waters

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kimberley coast has been Aboriginal country for tens of thousands of years. The marine parks being created across the region are designed with this in mind. The Bardi Jawi Marine Park, proposed for Bardi Jawi country on the Dampier Peninsula, would protect waters that the Bar...

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Image: Frank Vincentz | CC BY-SA 3.0