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The South-west Corner Marine Park (formerly South-west Corner Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is a
The South-west Corner Marine Park has the following major conservation values:
*Important migratory area for protected
Official webpage
''Required attribution:'' © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 {{Protected areas managed by the Australian Government , state=collapsed IUCN Category II IUCN Category VI Australian marine parks South coast of Western Australia
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 conserv ...
on the lower south west and southern coast of 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 ...
, one of 14 in the South-west Marine Parks Network.
It was gazetted in 14 December 2013 and was renamed on 11 October 2017.
Features
The key ecological features of the marine park include: * Albany Canyon * Cape Mentelle upwelling *Diamantina Fracture Zone
The Diamantina Fracture Zone (DFZ) is an area of the south-eastern Indian Ocean seafloor, consisting of a range of ridges and trenches. It lies to the south of the mideastern Indian Ocean features of the Wharton Basin and Perth Basin, and t ...
* Naturaliste Plateau
The Naturaliste Plateau is one of several large submarine plateaus extending from Western Australia into the Indian Ocean. It is a rectilinear plateau that covers an area of 90,000 square kilometres. Its width is about east-west and north-so ...
* Donnelly Banks
The marine park is located in Commonwealth waters (further away from the coastline) equivalent of the state marine park Ngari Capes Marine Park
The Ngari Capes Marine Park is a marine protected area on the lower south west coast of Western Australia, located approximately south of . The marine park was gazetted on and the park's western and southern boundaries are the limit of coastal ...
, which exists within Western Australian state jurisdiction.
Major conservation values
The South-west Corner Marine Park has the following major conservation values:
*Important migratory area for protected humpback whales
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...
and blue whales
The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...
*Important foraging areas for the:
**threatened white shark
The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
**threatened Australian sea lion
The Australian sea lion (''Neophoca cinerea''), also known as the Australian sea-lion or Australian sealion, is a species of sea lion that is the only endemic pinniped in Australia. It is currently monotypic in the genus ''Neophoca'', with the e ...
**threatened Indian yellow-nosed albatross
The Indian yellow-nosed albatross (''Thalassarche carteri'') is a member of the albatross family, and is the smallest of the mollymawks. In 2004, BirdLife International split this species from the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross; however Clements ...
and soft-plumaged petrel
The soft-plumaged petrel (''Pterodroma mollis'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae.
Distribution
It breeds on islands in the Southern Hemisphere, nesting on Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, the Prince Edward Islands, Crozet ...
**migratory sperm whale
The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...
**migratory flesh-footed shearwater, short-tailed shearwater
The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (''Ardenna tenuirostris''; formerly ''Puffinus tenuirostris''), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in A ...
and Caspian tern
*Seasonal calving habitat for the threatened southern right whale
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
*Representation of three provincial bioregions
A bioregion is an ecology, ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to ...
(the South-west Transition and Southern Province in the off-shelf area, and the South-west Shelf Province on the continental shelf) and two meso-scale bioregions (southern end of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste meso-scale bioregion and western and central parts of the Western Australia South Coast meso-scale bioregion)
*Six key ecological features:
**Albany Canyon group (high productivity, feeding aggregations)
**Cape Mentelle upwelling (high productivity)
**Diamantina Fracture Zone (unique sea-floor feature likely to support deepwater communities characterised by high species diversity and endemism)
**Naturaliste Plateau (unique sea-floor feature, likely to support deepwater communities characterised by high species diversity and endemism)
** western rock lobster
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
habitat (species with an important ecological role)
**Commonwealth marine environment surrounding the Recherche Archipelago (high biodiversity, breeding and resting aggregations, including the most extensive areas of reef on the shelf within the South-west Marine Region)
*Representation of the Donnelly Banks, east of Augusta, characterised by higher productivity and including nursery habitats
See also
* Protected areas managed by the Australian government * Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of AustraliaNotes
External links
Official webpage
''Required attribution:'' © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 {{Protected areas managed by the Australian Government , state=collapsed IUCN Category II IUCN Category VI Australian marine parks South coast of Western Australia