Australia's largest marine park, protecting remote coral reefs, seamounts, and pelagic waters of the Coral Sea.
Coral Sea Marine Park
The Coral Sea Marine Park is an Australian marine protected area located in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland, lying directly east of and adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. At roughly 990,000 square kilometers, it is the largest single marine park in Australia, encompassing remote oceanic waters, coral reefs, cays, plateaus, canyons, and seamounts that represent the full range of seafloor habitats found in the regional marine environment.
The park is valued for its combination of pelagic ecosystems, deep-ocean seafloor features, and biodiversity hotspots such as the Queensland Plateau, Marion Plateau, and the northern portion of the Tasmantid seamount chain. Together with France's Natural Park of the Coral Sea, the Coral Sea Marine Park forms part of the largest contiguous protected marine area in the world.
Its protection focus spans migratory whales, sea turtles, seabirds, pelagic sharks, and historical wartime heritage sites, making it both an ecological reserve and a region of significant cultural and natural heritage value. While it was originally proclaimed in 2013, the park's current management arrangements and zoning system only came into effect in July 2018.