Great Australian Bight Marine Park

The Great Australian Bight Marine Park was a marine reserve that was located on the coast of South Australia and was 918 kilometers west of Adelaide . Established in 1995, the 21,500 square kilometer reserve began 200 kilometers west of Ceduna and stretched along the coast of the Great Australian Bight to the border of Western Australia . The marine park encompassed both the sea and the continental shelf to a depth of 1000 meters.

The southern boundary of the park was formed over long distances from the latitude 31 ° 47 'S, which corresponds approximately to the 12-mile zone . In its center, however, a strip of sea extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) to the south and 20 nautical miles wide is also protected, so that the protected area was T-shaped. A three nautical mile strip along the coast to the north was under the administration of South Australia, the rest is administered by the Commonwealth.

At the end of 2012, the protected areas were integrated into new reserves.

history

In January 1627 the Dutchman Pieter Nuyts sailed along the coast on the Gulde Zeepaard . Joseph Bruny d'Entrecasteaux later came to this area in December 1792 with the sailing ships La Recherche ("The Search") and L'Esperence ("The Hope").

The first commercial activities in this marine area were whale and seal fishing around 1800, which became insignificant after 1845 due to insufficient catches. From 1931, the whales were placed under protection in the area of South Australia. The Southern Rock Lobster ( Jasus edwardsii ) is also fished .

In June 1995 the government of South Australia declared 430 km² a whale sanctuary. In 1996 a further 1240 square kilometers were placed under protection and the whole area was declared a marine park . In 1998 the federal government placed a further 19,395 square kilometers adjoining the marine park under protection as a marine park .

In November 2012, the Great Australian Bight Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) was integrated into the Great Australian Bight Commonwealth Marine Reserve . The newly created marine reserve covers 45,926 square kilometers. Since 2012, the marine reserve of the state of South Australia has been overlaid by the 1690 square kilometer Far West Coast Marine Park .

natural reserve

There are different zones with different objects of protection, different permitted activities and different management plans.

The area along the coast mainly protects the Australian sea lions and the southern right whales, while the protection of the benthos is in the foreground in the deep-sea strip that extends to the south . The protection park has a very rich marine fauna with a wide variety of marine animals such as red algae , sea squirts , bog animals , molluscs and echinoderms . Many of these species are endemic.

The high food supply that attracts numerous animals to the protection zone results from the meeting of the warm tropical waters of Western Australia and the cold waters of Southern Australia.