Where in the world is ... the Coral Sea?

AN ICONIC region and a part of Australian heritage lays off our north-eastern coastline, extending eastwards from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

It is a vast ocean known as the Coral Sea.

This body of water 4,791,000sq km in area, off the coast of north Queensland, is bound by Papua New Guinea to the north, the Tasman Front to the south, and the Pacific Islands of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the east.

The Coral Sea is a critical link between the western Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef, and further on to the Coral Triangle of South-East Asia.

The Australian portion

Almost a million square kilometres of the Coral Sea falls within Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone known as the Coral Sea Marine Reserve with half of it fully protected in a marine national park zone.

The reserve with an area of 972,000sq km (more than half the size of Queensland), has habitats such as coral reefs, islands, sand cays, deep sea plains and canyons.

The Coral Sea has one of the highest examples of biodiversity in the world.

The diversity of marine species include: six of the world’s seven sea turtles; 52 deep-water sharks and rays; 28 cetaceans (whales and dolphins); 19 seabirds; and the only known spawning aggregation of black marlin in the world.

Six bioregions, 94 depth ranges, and 16 sea floor types have been identified in the reserve providing protection for over 300 species listed as endangered, threatened or vulnerable.

The sea’s 49 different habitats serve as an important migration corridor, sustaining ecological processes and unique biological communities.

Therefore, there is great value in protecting the Coral Sea and the marine life that call it home.

The Coral Sea Marine Reserve is broken into zones, defining what activities can occur in which locations, to protect and provide for ecologically sustainable use.