The leader of the Coalition and aspiring Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has vowed to stop Labor's expansion of marine conservation parks claiming their policy was ''threatening to lock up our oceans''.

Mr Abbott said the protection of Australia's oceans through the creation of marine parks would have a devastating affect on commercial fishing and tourism.  Currently 5 per cent of Australia's oceans are protected.

In a bid to win marginal Queensland seats such as Dawson in Mackay, he added that a Coalition government would ''immediately suspend the marine protection process which is threatening the livelihoods of many people in the fishing industry and many people in the tourism industry.''

''All of us want to see appropriate environmental protection, but man and nature have to live together,'' Mr Abbott, a self-declared climate change skeptic, said.

But environmental groups have rejected Mr Abbott's comments claiming that over fishing is affecting more than half of Australia's fisheries.

A Greenpeace statement said Mr Abbott's policy ''takes us further down the path of having a future without fish,'' and WWF's fisheries spokesperson, Dr Gilly Llewellyn said ''science has seen clear increases in most popular species for recreational fishermen, such as coral trout (where marine parks have been established).''