The Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2016 provides both spatial and textual information about government, Indigenous and privately protected areas for Australia, in both the marine and terrestrial environments. This dataset is the marine component of the CAPAD only. Marine CAPAD provides information about off-shore protected areas in both state and Commonwealth waters. State and Territory conservation agencies supplied data current to 30 June 2016. This is the eighth version of the marine database, with previous versions released in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.
The Department also publishes protected areas data for the terrestrial environment. The terrestrial component of the database has been previously released in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 2010, 2012 and 2014.
CAPAD provides a snapshot of protected areas that meet the IUCN definition of a protected area: "A protected area is an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means" (IUCN 1994).
The department publishes a summary of the CAPAD data biennially on its website at http://www.environment.gov.au/capad/
This version of CAPAD is a public and downloadable version of CAPAD 2016 data, available for use through the CC-BY licencing model.
Commercial users: Commercial users should note the availability of a more descriptive dataset for Commonwealth Marine Reserves. It is recommended for use in commercial applications as it includes additional information about management arrangements for Commonwealth Marine Reserves. This dataset is available under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license from:
http://intspat01.ris.environment.gov.au/fed/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid=%7B2E8DD19C-1B93-4D90-BD1C-128DDC4A2998%7D
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR MARINE USERS – TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
The process for developing management plans has been completed for the five Commonwealth marine reserve networks declared around Australia and the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve. Until the new management plans come into effect transitional management arrangements are in place. Under these transitional arrangements, there are no changes "on the water" for users in the new areas added to the Commonwealth marine reserve estate. If people hold an existing approval to undertake activities within Commonwealth marine reserves or the now-revoked Coral Sea Conservation Zone, they are able to continue to operate under the terms of the existing approval. No additional administrative requirements apply.
The management plan for the South-east Network came into effect on 1 July 2013, while the management plans for the South-west, North-west, North and Temperate East Networks and the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve are under review. More information is available at http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/marine-reserves
Main attributes in Marine CAPAD 2016 include:
PA_ID: The protected area ID code. The first three digits of the PA_ID code are common to all component polygons of a single protected area. It is a DoEE generated number.
NAME: the name of the protected area.
TYPE: the type of protected area according to the protected area establishment mechanism.
TYPE_ABBR: the abbreviation of the TYPE.
TYPE abbreviations:
AQR = Aquatic Reserve
CA = Conservation Area
CMR = Commonwealth Marine Reserve
CP = Conservation Park
DPAA = Dugong Protection Area (A)
DPAB = Dugong Protection Area (B)
DS = Dolphin Sanctuary
FHAA = Fish Habitat Area (A)
FHAB = Fish Habitat Area (B)
FHPA = Fish Habitat Protection Area
GR = Game Reserve
IPA = Indigenous Protected Area
LS = Rock Lobster Sanctuary
MCA = Marine Conservation Area
MMA = Marine Management Area
MNP = Marine National Park
MNR = Marine Nature Reserve
MP = Marine Park
MS = Marine Sanctuary
NP = National Park
NPC = National Park (Commonwealth)
NPS4 = National Parks Act - Schedule 4 park or reserve
NR = Nature Reserve
SH = Shipwreck Reserve
S5G = 5(1)(g) Reserve
S5H = 5(1)(h) Reserve
IUCN: the IUCN protected area management category ascribed by the Managing authority, as outlined in the publication: CNPPA/WCMC "Guidelines for Protected Area management categories". Gland: IUCN, 1994. (ISBN: 2-8317-0201-1).
IUCN definitions:
IA = Strict Nature Reserve: managed mainly for science;
IB = Wilderness Area: managed mainly for wilderness protection;
II = National Park: managed mainly for ecosystem protection;
III = Natural Monument: managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features;
IV = Habitat / Species Management Area: managed mainly for conservation through management intervention;
V = Protected Landscape / Seascape: managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation;
VI = Managed Resource Protected Area: managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.
NA = (Not applicable) - Denotes an area that does not meet the NRS criteria or the IUCN definition of a protected area but has management complimentary to the NRS.
NRS_MPA: This attribute indicates whether the protected area meets the standard for inclusion in the NRSMPA or is managed for nature conservation without meeting the NRSMPA standard. For marine reserves refer to the “Guidelines for Establishing the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA)
NRS_MPA code definitions:
"Y" = Yes. The sea has been assessed as a protected area that meets the standard for inclusion in the NRSMPA.
"N" = No. The sea has been assessed as not meeting the standard for inclusion in the NRSMPA. It is managed for nature conservation without meeting the NRSMPA standard.
"ND" = Not Determined. The sea is managed for nature conservation although it has not been assessed to determine if it meets the standard for inclusion in the NRSMPA.
GAZ_AREA: area in hectares as described in the nomination document (e.g. parliamentary gazettal), to the nearest hectare. Some protected areas do not have a specific area in the designation.
GIS_AREA: area in hectares based on current spatial data and an Albers equal area projection for Australia. It is this field that is used to calculate the statistics provided in spreadsheets at: www.environment.gov.au/capad/
REPT_AREA: is the same as GIS_AREA. (Previously REPT_AREA was based on the GAZ_AREA attribute and if this was a null value then the GIS_AREA was used. Due to the fact that not all received data had REPT_AREA, it was incomplete and inconsistent, so REPT_AREA is no longer used for analysis).
GAZ_DATE: the first gazettal or proclamation date that established any protected area at this site. A default date of 01/01/1900 is applied for undated and unlabelled polygons supplied to the department.
LATEST_GAZ: the date of the most recent gazettal or proclamation to amend the protected area. It can be the same date as the GAZ_DATE.
STATE: The state is the state or territory that the protected area is located in. COM = protected areas located in Commonwealth Waters. EXT= protected areas located in Australian external territories.
AUTHORITY: The Authority responsible for the management of the protected area mechanism.
AUTHORITY abbreviations:
DOEE = Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy
GBRMPA = Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
IMG = Indigenous Management Group
NSW_DPI = NSW Department of Primary Industries
NT_PWCNT= Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT
PIRSA = Primary Industries and Regions South Australia
QLD_DEEDI = QLD Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
QLD_NPSR = Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing
SA_DEWNR = South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
TAS_DPIPWE = Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
TSRA = Torres Strait Regional Authority
VIC_DELWP = Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
WA_DOF = Western Australian Department of Fisheries
WA_DPAW = Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife
DATASOURCE: Describes the source of the data for the protected area.
DATASOURCE abbreviations:
DOEE = Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy
GBRMPA = Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
NSW_DPI = NSW Department of Primary Industries
NT_PWCNT= Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT
PIRSA = Primary Industries and Regions South Australia
QLD_DEEDI = QLD Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
QLD_NPSR = Queensland Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing
SA_DEWNR = South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
TAS_DPIPWE = Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment
TSRA = Torres Strait Regional Authority
VIC_DELWP = Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
WA_DOF = Western Australian Department of Fisheries
WA_DPAW = Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife
GOVERNANCE: Records the type of governance that has management and decision making responsibility.
Governance code definitions: G = Government, C = Community (conserved areas including indigenous peoples or local communities) or J = Joint.
COMMENTS: Extra information jurisdictions elect to supply. Due to the change in ENVIRON based categorisation rules in the 2016 version of CAPAD, it has been noted in the COMMENTS field of marine CAPAD if a record was previously included in terrestrial CAPAD.
ENVIRON: A protected area gazetted as terrestrial may have a marine component and vice versa. A protected area can be 'T' terrestrial, marine 'M' or both 'B'. Terrestrial CAPAD 2016 contains 'T' and 'B' records. Marine CAPAD 2016 contains 'M' and ‘B’ records. If a record is coded as ‘B’ by the data provider, DOEE calculates the proportional representation of marine and terrestrial areas within the polygon. If 70% or more of the area of the reserve is marine then the whole record is included in this dataset. If less than 70% of the area of the reserve is marine then the whole record is included in the terrestrial CAPAD dataset. In previous versions of CAPAD only ‘M’ records were included in Marine CAPAD.
X_COORD: is the longitude in decimal degrees east within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.
Y_COORD: is the latitude in decimal degrees south within the object closest to the centre of the object using the Geocentric Datum of Australia 1994.
MGT_PLAN: The code of the status of the management plan for the protected area.
MGT_PLAN code definitions:
P = In Preparation - Some form of management document was being prepared.
D = Draft - A draft management document was released for comment by the public, management board or equivalent.
S = Statutory - Enabling legislation establishes the management of a protected area and separate management document is not required.
I = Management Intent - A formal statement of management intent has been prepared that clearly sets out the management objectives for the protected area but includes little else.
M = Management Plan - A formally adopted management plan that has been through consultation and contains strategies and actions for implementation for this protected area.
R = Regional Plan - A formally adopted management plan has been through consultation and contains general strategies and actions for implementation over a group of protected areas.
N = Unknown - No form of management document could be found.
UR = Under Review - The management plan is under review
RES_NUMBER: The reserve number (if declared) as used by the controlling authority. IPA Reserve numbers are allocated by DOEE.
ZONE_TYPE: This is a concatenation of the ZONE (usually found in the COMMENTS field) and IUCN categories – for use when mapping the reserves.
EPBC: This identifies if the reserve can be considered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). It will be used to identify Commonwealth features for inclusion in the Protected Matters Search Tool.
EPBC code descriptions:
Commonwealth = Commonwealth reserve (either a Commonwealth Marine Reserve, Marine Park, Marine Sanctuary, National Park (Commonwealth)) – as outlined in Section 342 of the Act.
State = State managed reserve – as supplied by State/Territory authority
PA_ID_grp: The first three digits of the PA_ID code that identifies unique protected areas. It does not change between versions of CAPAD.CC - Attribution (CC BY)
This dataset is available under the CC-BY data licencing model and users are required to acknowledge the Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy as the source of the data in any of their uses. When citing the data please use ‘Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2016, Commonwealth of Australia 2017’.
© Commonwealth of Australia (Department of the Environment) 2017
The data is supplied to the Commonwealth for compilation by States and Territories of Australia and custodianship rests with the source agencies. A list of the agencies is available in the acknowledgements section of the metadata entry.
This CAPAD data has been supplied to the Commonwealth for compilation over a 3 month time frame and has taken several months to get to publication stage. Please note that the information supplied is not up-to-date at the time of publication and release by the Commonwealth.
It is the responsibility of the person using the CAPAD dataset to always check the metadata for the currency date within each jurisdiction and if required seek advice from the individual agencies on details of more recent gazettals of protected areas.
