A bill giving the state government power to create the Encounter Marine Park and 18 similar parks across the state was released for public comment last week.

According to the government, the draft Marine Parks Bill 2006 is a significant milestone in achieving the park, which would cover 2400 square kilometres from the Southern Fleurieu to North East Kangaroo Island, and including Backstairs Passage, Encounter Bay and the upper Coorong.

The draft bill suggests paying out commercial fishing operators who will be displaced by the parks' zoning, but it does not show consideration to tourism operators or businesses in the recreational fishing industry who may also be affected.

A public meeting will be held at the Victor Harbor Town Hall on Monday to discuss the draft bill.

The doors open at 6pm, with a presentation at 7pm, and Department of Environment and Heritage staff will be available to answer questions.

The government has been criticised for doing things the wrong way around in its planning of the marine parks.

It offered up a detailed proposal for the Encounter Marine Park for public consultation between March and June last year which attracted widespread criticism from the local community.

A member of the Victor Harbor Marine Park Stakeholders Group, David Hall, is one person who believes the government should have had legislation in place first "before they started putting lines on maps and confusing everybody".

"The whole process here has been back to front," he said.

During the public consultation period, 480 submissions were forwarded to the Department of Environment and Heritage, including 65 petitions.

One submission was an alternative plan for the park, from Mr Hall's group, which suggested moving the sanctuary zone offshore so recreational fishers weren't forced into deep and unsafe waters.

According to the department's manager of coast and marine conservation, Grahame Byron, the department is currently at the stage of "sitting down with all the submissions, including the one from the Victor harbor Marine Park Stakeholders Group, figuring out what is going to be the best outcome for this park".

Mr Byron cannot guess how long this will take, but emphasised the main priority at the moment is to get the legislation in place before refining plans for the Encounter Marine Park.

The draft Marine Parks Bill 2006 can be viewed at www.environment.sa.gov.au/coasts/mpas .

Submissions on the bill must be received by October 13, and can be forwarded to

Draft Marine Parks Bill 2006 Submissions, Coast and Marine Conservation Branch, Department for Environment and Heritage, Reply Paid 1047, Adelaide SA 5001.

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