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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