Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve

Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve
Australia
Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve
Nearest town or city Ceduna
Coordinates 33°24′00″S 130°23′00″E / 33.40000°S 130.38333°E / -33.40000; 130.38333Coordinates: 33°24′00″S 130°23′00″E / 33.40000°S 130.38333°E / -33.40000; 130.38333
Established 8 December 2012 (2012-12-08)[1]
Area 45,926 km2 (17,732.1 sq mi)[2]
Managing authorities Department of the Environment
Website Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve

Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve is a marine protected area located in the Great Australian Bight south of South Australia in waters within the Australian Exclusive economic zone.[3] It was gazetted in November 2012 to replace the Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth waters).[1] The reserve consists of three zones - a marine national park zone (IUCN Category II) with an area of 7,728 square kilometres (2,984 sq mi), a multiple use zone (IUCN Category VI) with an area of 22,682 square kilometres (8,758 sq mi) and a special purpose zone (IUCN Category VI) which occupies three separate areas of ocean with a total area of 15,516 square kilometres (5,991 sq mi).[2][3] The purpose of the reserve is to protect habitat used for calving by the Southern right whale and as a feeding area for the following species - Australian sea lion, sperm whale, short-tailed shearwater and great white shark.[2] It is part of a group of Commonwealth marine reserves known as the South-west Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network.[2] It is also part of the group of marine protected areas which are located together in waters within Australian and South Australian jurisdictions within the Great Australian Bight and which are collectively known as the Great Australian Bight Marine Park.[4]

It lies to the west of the Western Eyre Commonwealth Marine Reserve.

Map of southern Western Australia and South Australia
The South-west Corner Marine Reserves Network, including the Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Comlaw, 2012
  2. 1 2 3 4 DoE, 2015
  3. 1 2 DoE (map), 2015
  4. ↑ Director of National Parks, 2005, page iii


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.