Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve is a 2,928 km²

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conse ...

within Australian waters located in Bass Strait off the coast of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and near

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

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colo ...

. The reserve was established in 2007 and is part of the

South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve 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 ...

. The reserve boundaries enclose Kent Group National Park and the

Hogan A hogan ( or ; from Navajo ' ) is the primary, traditional dwelling of the Navajo people. Other traditional structures include the summer shelter, the underground home, and the sweat house. A hogan can be round, cone-shaped, multi-sided, or squ ...

and Curtis Island groups. Nearby to the north-east is

Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park The Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park is a protected marine national park located in the South Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The marine park is situated off the southern tip of Wilsons Promontory and extends along the coastline ...

. The reserve represents an area of shallow continental shelf ecosystems in depths of about , the sea floor that it covers formed part of a

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea leve ...

between Tasmania and Victoria during the last ice age 10 000 years ago.

Protection

The entirety of the Beagle marine reserve is

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 ...

VI and zoned as 'Multiple Use'.

Shipwrecks

Located within the Beagle marine reserve are the wrecks of the SS ''Cambridge'' (sunk by German

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

mine) and ''Eliza Davis'', both are east of Wilson's Promontory.

Gallery

Notes

References

External links