Save Our Marine Life (SOML) is an Australian

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

environmental advocacy alliance working to protect and secure Australia's marine life. It is a collaboration of 29 non-profit conservation organisations, both Australian and international. SOML was initially founded in 2008 to raise awareness of the need for the Australian Government to establish a network of large marine sanctuaries in the country's South West marine region. In 2010 SOML became a national campaign in order to drive the completion of Australia's National Network of Marine Parks. As a result of the SOML campaign and the long-standing Australian Government NRSMPA program (National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas) in 2012 the Gillard Labor Government declared 44 new federal marine parks in the South-west, North-west, North, Coral Sea and Temperate East marine regions, bringing Australia's federal marine park total to 60, covering a total area of 3.3million square kilometers (36% of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)) - the largest marine parks network in the world. In December 2013 the incoming Abbott Coalition Government suspended the operation of the 44 new parks before they could commence operation (which was scheduled for July 2014), and commenced an independent review. That review provided its findings to the then Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt in December 2015. The findings were released to the public in September 2016. Whilst endorsing the process undertaken by previous governments to develop the 44 marine parks, the Review recommended changes to zoning in a number of the new parks. In September 2016 the Turnbull Coalition Government commenced a further public consultation process to develop new management plans for the marine parks in order to change the zoning. In March 2018 the revised management plans were tabled in the Australian Parliament for consideration. Changes to the original 2012 zoning in the parks included removal of almost half the high level protective green ‘sanctuary’ zoning across the network - an area almost twice the size of the state of Victoria and equivalent in area to the loss of half of Australia's national parks on land - the biggest single windback of conservation area in Australia's history. The alliance groups include: *

Australian Conservation Foundation The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability. One high-profil ...

Australian Marine Conservation Society The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) is an Australian environmental not-for-profit organisation. It was founded in 1965 as the Queensland Littoral Society before changing its name to the Australian Littoral Society and then finally i ...

Conservation Council of Western Australia The Conservation Council of Western Australia is the umbrella body for conservation groups and organisations in Western Australia. It has been the co-ordinator, publisher and guiding body for issues of woodchipping in the South West of Western Au ...

* Cairns and Far North Environment Centre * Conservation Council of WA *

Conservation Council of South Australia The Conservation Council of South Australia, also known as Conservation SA and Conservation Council SA, is an environmental organisation serving as a peak body, representing over 50 member groups, representing over 90,000 individual members, in t ...

* Environment Centre of the Northern Territory * Environment Tasmania *

Environment Victoria Environment Victoria, formerly the Conservation Council of Victoria, is an Australian not-for-profit, charitable group and Victoria's peak non-government environment organisation. It works in collaboration with over 150 groups Australia-wide to ...

* Environs Kimberley * Greenpeace Asia Pacific *

Humane Society International Humane Society International (HSI) is the international division of The Humane Society of the United States. Founded in 1991, HSI has expanded The HSUS's activities into Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. HSI's Asian, Australian, Canad ...

International Fund for Animal Welfare The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world. The organization works to rescue individual animals, safeguard populations, preserve habitat, and advocate for greate ...

National Parks Association of NSW National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

National Parks Association of Qld National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Nature Conservation Council of NSW Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

North Queensland Conservation Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Queensland Conservation Council The Queensland Conservation Council (QCC) or Queensland Conservation is a non-governmental organisation that represents all the major conservation organisations of Queensland state in Australia. The organisation have been working to protect, cons ...

Project AWARE Foundation A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

Sealife Trust Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. ...

Sea Shepherd The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

Surfrider Surfrider is a steel shuttle roller coaster at Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast located at Oxenford, Gold Coast, Australia. The ride is an Intamin Half Pipe roller coaster that opened in September 2007. It has stood but not operated since 2020. His ...

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

The Pew Charitable Trusts The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948. With over 6 billion in assets, its stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, a ...

* The Wilderness Society *

Victorian National Parks Association The Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) is the prime supporter of nature conservation in the Australian state of Victoria. ThVNPAis an independent, not-for-profit nature conservation organisation whose vision is for Victoria to be a place ...

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), formerly Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society in the UK, is a wildlife charity that is dedicated solely to the worldwide conservation and welfare of all whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans). It has ...

* Wildlife Preservation Council of Qld * World Wildlife Fund – Australia The creation of the national network crossed political divides and received bi-partisan political support. It was initiated by John Howard's Coalition Government in 1998, and finalised by the federal Labor Government in 2012. In 2014 the Abbott Coalition Government suspended the parks from operation pending a review. On 1 July 2018 the 44 federal/Commonwealth waters parks created in 2012 commenced operation with revised zoning amidst great concern at the loss of almost half the highly protective green zoning.

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