The Mermaid Reef Marine Park (previously known as the Mermaid Reef Marine National Nature Reserve) is an

Australian marine park Australian marine parks (formerly Commonwealth marine reserves) are marine protected areas located within Australian waters and are managed by the Australian government. These waters generally extend from three nautical miles off the coast to the ...

in the

Rowley Shoals The Rowley Shoals is a group of three atoll-like coral reefs south of the Timor Sea, about west of Broome on the northwestern Australian coast, centered on , on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves in the world. Each atoll cover ...

, located approximately north-west of Broome,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The marine park covers an area of and is assigned IUCN category II. It is one of 13 parks managed under the

North-west Marine Parks Network Australian marine parks (formerly Commonwealth marine reserves) are marine protected areas located within Australian waters and are managed by the Australian government. These waters generally extend from three nautical miles off the coast to the ...

, and lies adjacent to the

Argo-Rowley Terrace Marine Park The Argo-Rowley Terrace Marine Park (formerly known as the Argo-Rowley Terrace Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is an Australian marine park offshore of Western Australia. It encompasses the protected areas of the Rowley Shoals, about north-west ...

Conservation values

Species and habitat

*Important areas for sharks including the

grey reef shark The grey reef shark (''Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos'', sometimes misspelled ''amblyrhynchus'' or ''amblyrhinchos'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family (biology), family Requiem shark, Carcharhinidae. One of the most common reef sharks in t ...

, the

whitetip reef shark The whitetip reef shark (''Triaenodon obesus'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus. A small shark that does not usually exceed in length, this species is easily recognizable by its slen ...

and the silvertip whaler. *Important foraging area for

marine turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

s. *Important area for

toothed whale The toothed whales (also called odontocetes, systematic name Odontoceti) are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and sperm whales. Seventy-three species of t ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

and

billfish The term billfish refers to a group of saltwater predatory fish characterised by prominent pointed bills (rostra), and by their large size; some are longer than . Extant billfish include sailfish and marlin, which make up the family Istiophor ...

. *Important resting and feeding sites for migratory seabirds *The reserve, along with the adjacent

Rowley Shoals Marine Park The Rowley Shoals is a group of three atoll-like coral reefs south of the Timor Sea, about west of Broome on the northwestern Australian coast, centered on , on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves in the world. Each atoll covers ...

, provides the best geological example of shelf atolls in Australia

Ecology and bioregion

* Mermaid Reef has national and international significance due to its pristine character, coral formations, geomorphic features and diverse marine life. It is a key area for over 200 species of

hard coral Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mo ...

s and 12 classes of

soft coral Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different f ...

s with coral formations in pristine condition. *Examples of the seafloor habitats and communities of the Northwest Transition provincial bioregion.

History

The Marine Park was originally proclaimed on 10 April 1991 as the Mermaid Reef Marine National Nature Reserve. It was proclaimed as a Commonwealth Marine Reserve in 2013 and later renamed Mermaid Reef Marine Park on 9 October 2017.

Summary of protection zones

The Mermaid Reef Marine park has been assigned

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is par ...

II and is wholly zoned as a National Park. The following table is a summary of the zoning rules within the Mermaid Reef Marine Park:

References

External links

North-west Marine Parks Network - Parks Australia

North-west Commonwealth Marine Reserves Network - environment.gov.au (outdated)
{{Protected areas managed by the Australian Government , state=collapsed Australian marine parks