The Marine Cadastre Project

As the world's largest island, Australia has a coastline length of approximately 36,700 km. The nation's relative isolation from its neighbours enables it to claim one of the largest maritime jurisdictions in the world. The ocean territory to which Australia lays claim is about 1.5 times larger than the Australian land mass. Given the diversity and extent of Australia's ocean resources, there is an economic and social need to manage, explore and exploit the nation's ocean territories in a way that will maximise benefit, while at the same time protecting the ocean environment.

An essential requirement for the consistent and effective management of the oceans is reliable, comprehensive and accurate spatial information. This introduces the complex issue of defining and quantifying the spatial and temporal interaction of a vast array of rights and responsibilities.

Not only are our oceans subject to the interests of a diverse group of individuals and organisations, they are also governed by a complex web of government legislation. International treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) also need to be considered. Many pieces of legislation contain geographical definitions for areas of jurisdiction. Understanding and managing the relationship and interaction between overlapping and sometimes competing rights is a complex problem.

The objective behind the development of a marine cadastre is to provide a comprehensive spatial data infrastructure whereby rights, restrictions and responsibilities in the marine environment can be assessed, administered and managed. However, before a marine cadastre can be designed and built, there is the need to identify and understand:

• The role and impact of various levels of legislation and regulation
• The rights, restrictions, responsibilities and requirements of the various players
• The source and quality of data to be used in the spatial analysis and management

Only after these issues are addressed will a foundation exist for an Australian marine cadastre.