The draft Sustainable Ocean Plan presents the Australian government's vision for how to manage Australia’s Oceans. The plan was developed as a part of Australia’s commitment to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (‘the Ocean Panel’), and reflects the approach to achieving the commitment under the Ocean Panel’s transformations framework to ensure that 100% of the ocean under the national jurisdiction is well managed by 2025.

The plan identified four national priorities (Climate Action, First Nations, Protect and Restore, Industry) and four enabling factors to achieve these priorities (Collaboration, Equity and Inclusion, Knowledge and Finance). Establishing national priorities, and matching actions for achieving them, is an important step in achieving meaningful progress in addressing many of the sustainability challenges facing marine ecosystems.

However, the Biodiversity Council is concerned that the current version of the plan has critical gaps and would likely fail in achieving its stated national vision for a sustainable ocean economy. We have five key areas of concern:

1. The analysis of key threats to Australia’s marine biodiversity, and identification of effective actions, is insufficient.
2. The plan fails to provide a path for self-determination for First Nations communities.
3. The plan lacks details on implementation.
4. The plan fails to provide any funding commitment to support implementation.
5. The plan misses an opportunity for better integration.

Please see the submission for full details.