For the United States Marine Corps Reserve see: Marine Forces Reserve

A marine reserve is an area of the sea

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

 which has legal protection against fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 or development. This is to be distinguished from a marine park

Marine park

A marine park is a park consisting of an area of sea sometimes protected for recreational use, but more often set aside to preserve a specific habitat and ensure the ecosystem is sustained for the organisms that exist there...

, but there is some overlap in usage. As of April 2008 there are no high seas marine reserves, but Greenpeace is campaigning for the "doughnut holes" of the western pacific to be declared as marine reserves.

They are campaigning for 40 percent of the world’s oceans to be protected as Marine Reserves.

Australia

• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
  The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. Fishing and the removal of artefacts or...
  
   is the largest marine park, at 350,000 km² and is partially a marine reserve.
• Australian Whale Sanctuary
  Australian Whale Sanctuary
  The Australian Whale Sanctuary was established in 1999 to protect dolphins and whales from hunting. The non-contiguous zone includes the Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone , which is the area surrounding the continent of Australia and its external dependencies such as Christmas Island , Cocos ...
  
  
• Great Australian Bight Marine Park
  Great Australian Bight Marine Park
  Great Australian Bight is a marine national park in South Australia and in Western Australia, 918 km west of Adelaide.The area extends from West of Ceduna to the Western Australian border an additional area of a wide strip that extends to off-shore, forming a large T shape.The total area of the...
  
  
• Shark Bay Marine Park
  Shark Bay Marine Park
  Shark Bay Marine Park is located at Shark Bay World Heritage Site, Western Australia, over north of Perth. It is the site of the world's largest seagrass meadows, with a total of twelve species of seagrass in the park....
  
  
• Chagos Marine Reserve is the largest 'no take' marine reserve at over 540,000 km²

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External links

• New Zealand Department of Conservation marine reserves
• Greenpeace is calling for a global network of Marine Reserves, check map