Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced the change late on Friday, saying it would reverse Labor's ''plan to lock out recreational fishers'' from waters around the country.

Mr Hunt said the government would retain all national marine reserves and parks, including their boundaries, but would redraft management plans. In the meantime, the government has eliminated fishing exclusion zones in breeding zones and waters that are home to threatened species, measures that would have come into effect next July.

The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation said it unlocked 1.3 million square kilometres of Australian waters to recreational fishers and would give them a greater say in a new marine management scheme.

But environment groups said the changes rendered the vast marine parks established under Labor little more than lines on the map.

Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Jess Abrahams said all of the marine reserves were more than five kilometres offshore, and most were more than 50 kilometres from population centres.

''I fear that this whole process - which was begun under the Howard government - this thorough, expensive and scientific consultation process will be lost,'' he said.

Labor and the Greens slammed the government for having Governor-General Quentin Bryce sign the changes after Parliament had risen for the Christmas break, which the opposition described as a ''sneaky'' manoeuvre.

Labor's environment spokesman Mark Butler said: "This action is simply stunning, using obscure powers to undo 20 years of work begun under the Keating government and continued under the Howard government. By the stroke of a pen, the Abbott government has once again gone into reverse gear on environmental protections."

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said the government was misleading voters by arguing it was unlocking coastal waters around the country for recreational anglers, saying the marine parks only covered Commonwealth waters.

''Ignoring the science of marine protection means ignoring the communities around the country who rely on fishing and tourism industries,'' Ms Siewert said.

But Mr Hunt said the marine park management plans unveiled by Labor would have ''hurt tourism and commercial fishing operations''.

"I have asked my department to begin work on a marine reserves review to consider what management arrangements will best protect marine ecosystems and accommodate the many industries and recreational fishers that use our oceans," Mr Hunt said.

Australian Maritime Conservation Society director Darren Kindleysides said there had been more than 750,000 submissions, most of which supported establishing reserves.