Australia’s Commonwealth, state and territory governments together with regulatory bodies and local authorities have worked in partnership with the fishing industry, scientists, economists, environmental non-government organisations to establish 
management frameworks for fishing in and around Australia. These management processes implement controls, such as limits on catch or effort levels, and regulation of fishing methods to manage Australia’s fisheries in a sustainable way. It also includes the definition and description of different fishing zones and areas. Nominated Australian fisheries and marine park areas are two critical foundations for the description of some of the areas in and around Australia.

A need to understand the Australian community’s awareness and understanding of these zones has been identified. A measure of the support for commercial fishers to operate in these areas was also seen as an important measures to collect 
and describe. These measures will provide Governments and industry the opportunity to plan for their communications and engagement with the Australian community on these two key zones. This research was designed to provide a snapshot of the community’s awareness, knowledge and perceptions of Australian fisheries, marine parks and commercial fishers who may operate in these designated areas. A representative sample of n = 1,000 adult Australians was captured in this community sentiment survey. A more detailed 
explanation of the research design is provided in the attachments to this report.