An important element to assist in the management of Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries is the clear identification of boundaries. Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries have been defined in legislation and accurately surveyed.

The practicalities of marking in-water marine boundaries has been worked through with Marine Safety Victoria and Navigation Agencies. The agreed system uses yellow triangular shore markers and yellow ‘special mark’ in-water buoyage. The nature of the Victorian coastal environment includes sheltered bays and inlets, but also high-energy wave-dominated open ocean coastlines. Please note that in-water markers are only present in sheltered waters due to difficulties in maintaining them on open waters.

To assist you in understanding the boundaries the following information has been provided:-

• GPS & Chart Information is provided in six datum types at the bottom of this page.
• Marine Parknotes on individual Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries available at the bottom of each individual park page on this website. As well as coordinate information, Marine Parknotes also include some details relating to in-water features at some of the Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries, such as boundary distances and the positions of reefs.
• On-site signage at key access points to individual Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries (eg. boat ramps) .
• Marine National Park and Marine Sanctuary boundaries are also progressively being incorporated into navigational charts and other publications.

All visitors to Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries should be aware that the accuracy of individual charts or maps varies depending on the Marine Chart or Map being used. Due to scale variations and the age of some marine charts, positional discrepancies may occur, especially when using hand-held GPS receivers.

Marine National Parks - Understanding the Boundaries (pdf 503KB)

Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries Boundary Coordinates (pdf 317KB)