Australia's Oceans Policy: Past, present and future Joanna Vince a,b,n , Anthony D.M. Smith b,c,1 , Keith. J. Sainsbury b,d,2 , Ian David Cresswell e,3 , David C. Smith b,c,4 , Marcus Haward b,f,5 a Politics and International Relations Program, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1340, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia b Centre for Marine Socio-ecology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia c CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere Flagship, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia d Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Taroona, Tasmania 7053, Australia e CSIRO Land and Water Flagship, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia f Ocean and Cryosphere Centre, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, 20 Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia article info Article history: Received 8 December 2014 Received in revised form 26 February 2015 Accepted 27 February 2015 Keywords: Australia's Oceans Policy Marine Bioregional Plans Ocean governance Integrated policy Ecosystem based approaches Marine Protected Areas abstract Australia has a large and diverse marine jurisdiction. A federal division of responsibilities matched with complex intergovernmental arrangements shapes management of this jurisdiction. This paper first outlines Australia's ocean governance arrangements and then reviews attempts to establish a national Australian Oceans Policy in the late 1990s. Notwithstanding attempts to implement an integrated policy framework across jurisdictions and sectors this ambitious policy framework has not met its original aspirations. However some new approaches have been introduced into a range of ocean sectors. The paper explores twenty plus years of oceans policy development and implementation and identifies key future challenges in implementing national oceans policy. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Seventeen years after its release, Australia's Oceans Policy [1] has not lived up to its promise as the major instrument driving oceans management in Australia. While it was once referred to as ‘world leading’ [2,3] in its design and implementation methods, the Oceans Policy process did not deliver the integrated (across sectors and jurisdictions) and ecosystem based management that was originally intended. Marine activities in Australia's federal government's (Commonwealth) ocean domain continue to be sector based, with some minimal guidance provided by Marine Bioregional Plans (MBPs) established under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) Act 1999 [4]. MBPs were designed to be used by government and industry ‘to improve the way the marine environment is managed and protected’ [5], but they have a significantly reduced scope from the original intent of regional marine planning and there is little evidence that they have had any impact on oceans management. The Oceans Policy is now in abeyance and, although MBPs are formally in place, the sectoral approach to oceans management remains the dominant paradigm. Australia's experiences are not unique, with little tangible progress in other countries. For instance the US, while effort has been made by the federal government to establish a national oceans policy [6,7] such policies are most advanced at the regional or state level (for example New England, New York, California). In Canada, where the Oceans Act came into force in 1997, strong sectoral management is in place although cross-sectoral issues continue to surface [8–10]. The European Union's Integrated Maritime Policy was released in 2007 and identifies core environmental values and standards, but implementation is varied across different member countries [11,12]. In contrast marine spatial planning in regional EU seas, such as the Baltic [13] or North East Atlantic [14], has made significant progress [12]. This paper examines what can be learned about integrated oceans governance through the Australian experience in develop- ing and implementing an oceans policy. It argues that the demise Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Marine Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2015.02.014 0308-597X/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author at: Politics and International Relations Program, School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania, Locked Bag 1340, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia. Tel.: þ61 3 63243262. E-mail addresses: Joanna.vince@utas.edu.au (J. Vince), Tony.d.smith@csiro.au (A.D.M. Smith), ksainsbury@netspace.net.au (Keith.J. Sainsbury), Ian.Cresswell@csiro.au (I.D. Cresswell), David.c.smith@csiro.au (D.C. Smith), M.G.Haward@utas.edu.au (M. Haward). 1 Tel.: þ61 3 6232 5372. 2 Tel.: þ61 3 6229 1767. 3 Tel.: þ61 3 6232 5213. 4 Tel.: þ61 3 6232 5372. 5 Tel.: þ61 3 6226 2333. Marine Policy 57 (2015) 1–8