Colin Barnett has spoken of the "good" that may come from the tragic loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 off WA last year amid an unprecedented investigation into the crash.

The Premier said yesterday that efforts to find and recover the wreckage of the doomed plane had inadvertently yielded unexpected discoveries including freshwater lakes and waterfalls under the Indian Ocean.

Mr Barnett, who made the comments as he launched a "blueprint" for marine science in WA for the next 35 years, said the search would make the ocean off WA the best understood in the world.

MH370 disappeared on March 8 last year with 239 passengers and crew aboard and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean almost 2000km west of Perth.

An international team has since been conducting a massive search to try to find it.

"We're all conscious of the loss of (MH370) off our coast a little over a year ago," Mr Barnett said.

"While that is a great human tragedy there will be some good come out of it.

"The knowledge of the deep sea and seabed conditions off WA will probably exceed anywhere in the world because of the scientific effort that is searching for an aircraft but providing all sorts of information.

"For example, previously unknown volcanoes have been discovered, freshwater lakes and freshwater waterfalls have been discovered - features of the marine bed that many did not believe were likely to exist."

Mr Barnett also lauded the role science had played in allowing WA to manage its fisheries and predicted it would be increasingly important if developing an aquaculture industry was to get off the ground.

WA Chief Scientist Peter Klinken said the report would help guide the way for how the State's marine environment was researched, developed and protected. Areas of focus were likely to include the oil and gas industry, fisheries and aquaculture and conservation and marine parks.