The Central Eastern Shelf Province is a

biogeographic Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

region of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's coastal and

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

waters. It includes the warm temperate coastal waters of eastern Australia. It is a provincial level bioregion in the

Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA), formerly the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia, is a biogeographic regionalisation of the oceanic waters of Australia's exclusive economic zone (EE ...

(IMCRA) system."A Guide to the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia Version 4.0". Department of Environment and Heritage, Government of Australia. June 2006. ISBN 0 642 552274. It corresponds to the Manning-Hawkesbury

marine ecoregion A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeography, biogeographic characteristics. Introduction A more complete definition describes them as “Areas of relatively homogen ...

in the WWF's Marine Ecoregions of the World system.

Geography

The Central Eastern Shelf Province extends along the eastern coast of Australia, from

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

to south of

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. In the east it extends to the edge of the continental shelf. On the north it adjoins the

Central Eastern Shelf Transition Tweed–Moreton, also known as the Central Eastern Shelf Transition, is a marine biogeographic region of eastern Australia. The region includes the coastal and estuarine waters from just north of the Baffle Creek estuary in Queensland to north ...

, a transitional region between the warm temperate and tropical waters. On the south it adjoins the Southeast Shelf Transition region, the transition to the cool temperate waters of the

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The bioregion is influenced by the warm

East Australian Current The East Australian Current (EAC) is a warm, southward, western boundary current that is formed from the South Equatorial Current (SEC) crossing the Coral Sea and reaching the eastern coast of Australia. At around 15° S near the Australian coa ...

, which runs southwards from the tropics along the eastern coast of Australia.

Meso-scale bioregions

The province contains two meso-scale bioregions: * Manning Shelf (MAN) extends from Stockton to north of

Nambucca Heads Nambucca Heads is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Nambucca Valley. It is located on a ridge, north of the estuary of the Nambucca River near the Pacific Highway. Its 2021 population was 6,675 (6,327 in 2016 ...

. * Hawkesbury Shelf (HAW) extends from

Shellharbour Shellharbour (also known as Shellharbour Village) is a suburb located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It also gives its name to the local government area, City of Shellharbour, and its central business district, Shellhar ...

to Stockton

Ecology

The biota includes a distinct group of characteristic species, some of which range north and south into the adjacent transitional bioregions. It is the southern limit of some tropical species, and is the northeastern limit of a large group of southern temperate species which range as far as southwestern Australia.

References

{{reflist Biogeography of New South Wales Ecoregions of Australia IMCRA provincial bioregions Temperate Australasia Coastline of New South Wales