Australia urged to save Coral Sea animals, history

"The protection and management of Australia's unique marine environment is a high priority" for the government, the spokesman said, asking not to be named according to department policy. "The government is currently looking closely at the case for further protection of the Coral Sea and will be consulting with stakeholders before the government makes any decisions in this regard."

The proposed no-fishing park lies just east of the Great Barrier Reef, on Australia's northeastern coast, and would extend to the country's maritime boundaries with Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

Less than 0.1 percent of the world's oceans are fully protected, compared with the 11 percent of land habitats that are protected, the campaign said in a news release.

Earlier this year, the Pacific nation of Kiribati declared the world's largest marine protected area--a California-sized area of 164,200 square miles just off its shores.

In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush designated a 140,000-square-mile no-fishing sanctuary in the waters northwest of Hawaii. The campaign for the Hawaii park was also spearheaded by the Pew Environment Group, a part of the independent, nonprofit U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts.