Marine reserves welcomed

Australia has created the world's largest network of marine reserves and will restrict fishing as well as oil and gas exploration in a major step to safeguard the environment and access to food.

With the expansion announced on Thursday, Australia will protect 3.1 million square kilometers of ocean. The reserves will encompass a third of the island continent's territorial waters, which sustain more than 4,000 species of fish.

Australia is surrounded by the world's third-largest ocean territory, which provides an important habitat to threatened species of whales, sharks and turtles as well as spectacular corals.