North-west Marine Region
Conservation values of the North-west Marine Region
What are conservation values?
The conservation values of a marine region include all marine species and places that are protected under national environmental law as well as a region's key ecological features. Conservation values are therefore those species, features and places of the marine environment that are important in the context of the government's environmental responsibilities.
- Key ecological features are parts of the marine ecosystem that are considered to be of importance for a region's biodiversity or ecosystem function and integrity. Key ecological features may be habitats or areas of a region, specific benthic or pelagic features, species groups or ecological communities. The description of key ecological features helps to define Commonwealth waters.
There are a number of things about the North-west Marine Region that make it different to all other marine regions around Australia.
Large areas of continental shelf and slope provide breeding and feeding grounds for a number of threatened and migratory marine species. For example, thousands of humpback whales migrate through the North-west Marine Region each year to mate and give birth off the Kimberley coast.
Recently included as part of a World Heritage Area, Ningaloo Reef is a globally significant coral reef that supports a rich array of marine species including over 200 corals and over 460 reef species of fish as well as marine turtles, dugongs and dolphins.
The Ningaloo Reef within the North-west Marine Region is a globally significant coral reef that supports a rich array of marine species including over 200 corals and over 460 reef species of fish as well as marine turtles, dugongs and dolphins.
Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island are two existing Commonwealth marine reserves within the North-west. Both Ashmore Reef and Cartier Island are known to provide critical nesting habitats for one of three genetically distinct breeding populations of green turtles.
Large populations of hawksbill and loggerhead turtles as well as important colonies of seabirds also live within the region.
Find out more
- The Draft North-west Marine Bioregional Plan describes the conservation values and key ecological features of the North-west Marine Region
- Conservation Values Atlas
About marine bioregional planning
Marine bioregional planning is being implemented in five large marine regions.