The declaration and ongoing management of the Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Marine Reserve contributes to the implementation of several national conservation policies, including:
- National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas
- conservation plans
- other agreements.
See also the International Agreements page.
Australia’s Oceans Policy and National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas
In 1998 the Commonwealth, States and Northern Territory governments committed themselves to establishing a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) by 2012. The primary goal of the NRSMPA is to establish and effectively manage a comprehensive, adequate and representative system of marine reserves to contribute to the long-term conservation of marine ecosystems and to protect marine biodiversity.
Protected areas within the NRSMPA are established especially for the conservation of biological diversity, are classified into one or more IUCN protected area categories, have secure conservation status and contribute to the representativeness, comprehensiveness or adequacy of the national system.
Other goals of the NRSMPA – of relevance to the Reserve – include:
- promoting integrated ecosystem management
- providing for the formal management of a range of human activities
- providing scientific reference sites
- providing for the special needs of rare, threatened and migratory species and the conservation of special groups of organisms
- protecting areas of high conservation value including those containing high species diversity, natural refugia for flora and fauna and centres of endemism.
Declaration of the HIMI Marine Reserve in 2002 contributes to the protection of Australia’s unique marine biodiversity by ensuring that temperate and subantarctic waters are incorporated in the comprehensive and representative national system of marine protected areas.
More information on the NRSMPA is available from the NRSMPA pages of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water website.
Conservation plans
A number of plans made under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 for listed threatened species are relevant to the protection and management of species found in the Reserve. These include Recovery Plans and Threat Abatement Plans, in particular:
- National Recovery Plan for albatrosses and petrels (2022)
- Subantarctic Fur Seal and Southern Elephant Seal Recovery Plan
- Threat Abatement Plan for the Incidental Catch (or By-catch) of Seabirds During Oceanic Longline Fishing Operations
- Threat abatement plan for the impacts of marine debris on the vertebrate wildlife of Australia’s coasts and oceans
More information about conservation plans for threatened species is available from the Threatened Species pages of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water website.
Other agreements and strategies
The Reserve’s declaration and ongoing management contribute to meeting the Commonwealth Government’s objectives in relation to protected areas including Australia’s Strategy for Nature 2019-2030 and the Nature positive plan.
More information is available from the Australian Biodiversity pages of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment & Water website.