Proposal to vary the Submarine Cable (Southern Sydney Protection Zone) Declaration 2007

Submarine cables are an important component of Australia’s communications infrastructure. However, these cables and the connectivity they offer are vulnerable to damage from certain activities by other seabed users. 

We are responsible for declaring, varying and revoking protection zones, which offer enhanced protections for submarine cables in Australian waters.  Within protection zones, activities that could damage submarine cables are prohibited or restricted. This includes anchoring large vessels and the use of trawl fishing gear.

We are proposing changes to the existing Submarine Cable (Southern Sydney Protection Zone) Declaration 2007 so that the southern-most boundary of the protection zone is extended over a new submarine cable of national significance. The new submarine cable will be installed in the waters off Maroubra Beach, New South Wales. The current prohibitions and restrictions on activities within the Southern Sydney Protection Zone would continue to apply within the varied area of the zone.

On 23 October 2025, we made the Submarine Cable (Southern Sydney Protection Zone) Declaration Variation 2025 (No. 1).

This instrument extends the southern boundary line of the Southern Sydney Protection zone up to 4.1 km south, over the Tabua submarine cable.

We made one minor change to the draft instrument released for consultation. This will allow the New South Wales Government to continue to use 2 fish aggregating devices at defined locations within the extended area of the protection zone.  

You can access a map, geospatial data and a list of prohibited and restricted activities for the Southern Sydney Protection Zone on our Protection zones for Sydney submarine cables page.

We received 10 public submissions to the proposal and 14 confidential submissions. You can view the public submissions at the bottom of this page.