Protected areas of Tasmania

Tasmania's protected areas are classed into 10 categories as defined in the Nature Conservation Act 2002, which encompasses crown, private and public authority land. The total terrestrial reserved area is 3,414,000 hectares, or 50.1% of the area of Tasmania.

The National Parks and Reserves Management act 2002 determines the management objectives for each class. Land is also declared as reserves and/or protected under other state and federal Acts including the Regional Forest Agreement (Land Classification) Act 1998 and Crown Lands Act 1976.

At 30th June 2016, Tasmania's terrestrial reserves cover 3.4 million hectares (about 50.1% of the area of Tasmania), of which Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service manages 823 reserves (about 2.9 million hectares, or over 42% of the area of Tasmania).

The following table demonstrates the distribution of terrestrial protected areas as of June 2016, any marine areas are excluded. All protected areas not managed by Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (TPWS) or Forestry Tasmania (FT) is grouped into "other", including: formal and informal reserves on public land, reserves on private land, and Wellington Park.

There are several Commonwealth marine reserves in the vicinity of Tasmania, these reserves are not within state waters and are managed by the Australian government. All of the reserves are part of the South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network which contains an additional 4 reserves.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) in Tasmanian state waters are classed as either conservation area, national park or nature reserve. Only the nature reserve or national park class have either restricted fishing or no take zones. Of the approximately 135,000 hectares of marine protected areas, about 48,000 hectares is restricted fishing or no take, Macquarie Island (~75,000 hectares) is a wholly no-take zone.

In total 7.9% of Tasmania’s State coastal waters is reserved, however only 4.2% is in no-take areas and the majority of this is concentrated around subantarctic Macquarie Island. Only 1.1% of Tasmania’s immediate coastal waters are fully protected in no-take areas.

A protected area of land predominantly in a natural state. The sustainable use of natural resources may be permitted, such as mining, special species timber harvesting or hunting. There are 438 conservation areas covering a terrestrial area of about 622,000 hectares. Generally IUCN Category VI, V or IV

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