How is the Money Used?

All funds received as Environmental Management Charge (EMC) payments are applied directly to management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. This money is a very important contribution to management of the Marine Park and is about 20% of the GBRMPA's income.

How much is collected?

In 2005-06, a total of $7,2718,639 was collected in EMC payments.

The amount of EMC collected has been gradually increasing since it was first introduced in 1993. This is both because the number of tourists to the Marine Park has grown and because the charge itself has increased.

* Standard charge increase - $A1 to $A2

**Standard charge increase - $A2 to $A4

***Standard charge increase - $A4 to $A4.50
 

How important is the EMC in protecting the Great Barrier Reef?

To give you an indication just how important the EMC is to managing the Marine Park, in the 2005-06 financial year, EMC funds contributed 19 per cent of the annual operational budget for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Some of this money is shared with with Queensland Environmental Protection Agency and used for joint management activities.

On average $5.00* from the cost of each full day reef trip will go directly to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, to be appied across all aspects of Marine Park management including education and research, ranger patrols, site planning, public moorings, reef protection markers, and information signs and maps.

*Prices correct as at 1 April 2007