Marine park draft almost ready: Burke

The federal government says it's close to releasing draft maps of where it intends to establish future marine parks in Western Australia's south west.

The government is intending to expand marine parks around Australia including in WA's south-westextending from Geraldton to Esperance.

As part of a formal 90 day consultation process, environment minister Tony Burke was in Fremantle today to meet with representatives from environmental and conservation organisations as well as both the commercial and recreational fishing sectors.

He said a draft map of the proposed new marine parks are close to being released.