Download The Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve What

The Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve
What Does it Mean for our Ocean Wildlife?
The Coral Sea Marine Reserve has been created, an important
step will greatly help to maintain the health of one of the most
intact tropical pelagic ecosystems in the world.
Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve:
What it does:
• Nearly 1 million km2 included in
the marine reserve.
• Just over 500,000km2 to become
marine national park zone.
• Oil and gas exploration is
banned from reserve.
• Long line fishing - a threat to
sharks, turtles and seabirds – is
excluded from 3/4 of the reserve.
From thickly forested islands to small • Bottom-trawling which damages
sandy cays, beautiful coral reefs
sea-floor habitat is restricted
and yet to be explored reef slopes
to one very small area on the
and deep sea canyons; the Coral
continental slope.
Sea contains 49 different habitats
• Increased protection for reefs.
and supports over 300 different
threatened species.
Fast Facts:
• The Coral Sea Marine Reserve
Protection of this special and
is over 100km from the coast,
important part of Australia provides
beyond the Great Barrier Reef
a safe haven for its marine life and a
Marine Park
globally significant ocean legacy for • It is part of a larger network of
generations to come.
marine reserves that has been
in the planning stages since the
Howard Government
• Of the 36% of Australia’s
Commonwealth waters that will
be included in marine reserves,
just 13% is national park (green
zone) the remainder (87%) is
available for many different uses.
• The Protect Our Coral Sea
coalition is a group of 15
conservation groups asking
for increased protection of this
significant area.
Our Coral Sea is a beacon of hope.
It is one of the last places on Earth
where ocean giants – sharks, tuna,
marlin – still abound and its vibrant
coral reefs still pulse with the rhythm
of life. The Coral Sea Marine
Reserve is an important step towards
safe-guarding this marine jewel for
the future.
Key Ecological Features:
Reefs protected: Kenn, Mellish, Shark,
Vema, Osprey, Bougainville, Marion,
Lihou and the Coringa-Herald Complex.
Reefs left open to fishing: Diane, West
Holmes, East Holmes, North Moore,
South Moore, Cairns Seamount, Willis,
Saumarez, Flinders Reefs, Ashmore,
Boot, Flora, McDermott Bank, Herald
Surprise, Malay, Abington, Tregosse,
Frederick, Wreck, Cato Reef and several
un-named reefs.
Queensland and Townsville Troughs:
These deep areas are important
migration pathways and the site of
breeding and spawning aggregations.
The Queensland Trough will be
protected from long-line fishing &
trawling. The Townsville Trough could
be protected further if long-line effort is
removed from this sensitive area.
Queensland Plateau: Home to most of
the Coral Sea’s reefs, the Queensland
Plateau is also the largest plateau in
the world! Most of its reefs will not be
protected from all fishing under the
proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve but
they will be protected from long-line
fishing and trawling.
Southern Seamounts: The Coral Sea
is home to a series of underwater
mountains (seamounts) which are the
result of ancient volcanoes. They attract
vast numbers of ocean predators like
sharks and host an amazing diversity
of marine life. Kenn Reef has been
protected but others are still vulnerable
to long-line fishing. Removing longline effort north of 22 degrees South
would give additional protection to
Frederick Reef. Wreck Reef – a reef
atop a seamount – should also be fully
protected.
Deep Sea Ecosystems: Unexplored
and yet to be discovered deep sea
ecosystems protected from sea-floor
trawling.
More about the proposed Coral Sea Marine Reserve
and why the Coral Sea should be protected:
• In the last 50 years overfishing has reduced global
populations of large ocean fish (tuna, billfish and
sharks) by 90%. The Coral Sea is considered to
be one of the last remaining special places where
healthy populations still abound.
• Unlike national parks on land, many marine
reserves allow hunting (fishing) to continue at both
a commercial and recreational level. The Coral Sea,
due to its remoteness, out beyond the Great Barrier
Reef, is a place where a high-level of protection
could be established while impacting very few.
Only a marine national park zone means our ocean
wildlife are protected from fishing.
• Fishing is the key threat to the long-term survival
of the globally significant ecological values of
this ocean area. Fishing leads to changes in the
structure of reef populations through the loss of key
individual large fish important to these small and
very isolated reefs, reef health and resilience suffers
as a result of these changes.
• Large marine national parks where ecological
process and functions can operate, much as they
have for millennia, are virtually missing from the
marine conservation and management portfolio
globally.
• The Coral Sea is one of only a handful of places
in the world where a very large oceanic marine
reserve could be created, managed and enforced.
• Matching the scale of management to the scale of
important ecosystem processes, such as dispersal
and migration ensures that top predators (sharks,
swordfish and marine mammals) key to ecosystems,
remain abundant.
• Commercial fishing in the Coral Sea is valued at
under $10million in production annually, making
the protection of this area, and the creation of an
international icon, very affordable.
• It is an important migratory route for many species,
such as sea turtles and oceanic sharks, riding the
great ocean currents from the north.
• The Coral Sea is ecologically fragile. The reefs are
small, isolated from each other and exposed to
severe weather.
• A very large safe haven for marine life in the
Coral Sea would help restore the abundance of
marine life and leave an ocean legacy for future
generations.
(c) Lucy Trippett
(c) Xanthe Rivett
www.protectourcoralsea.org.au