North Marine Region
Conservation values of the North 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.
The North Marine Region is made up of very shallow, generally nutrient poor waters that cover the continental shelf. Water depths range from approximately 10 metres to 357 metres, and are generally less than 70 metres.
There are a number of characteristics about the North Marine Region that make it very different to anywhere else in Australia. For example, the habitats associated with the shallow carbonate banks and shoals covering the Limestone terrace of the Van Diemen Rise are found nowhere else in Australia.
The troughs of the Arafura Depression funnel deep, comparatively nutrient rich ocean waters that attract large schools of fish, whale sharks and vast numbers of seabirds.
The Gulf of Carpentaria is the largest tropical epicontinental sea in the world. This means that the Gulf of Carpentaria effectively functions like a closed lake, and its health and productivity is closely tied to wet season freshwater flows and nutrient cycling.
Globally important populations of dugong, marine turtles, dolphins and large numbers of birds migrate through the North Marine Region to their breeding, nesting and feeding areas along the coastline adjacent to the region.
Find out more
- The draft North Marine Bioregional Plan describes the conservation values and key ecological features of the North Marine Region
- Conservation Values Atlas
About marine bioregional planning
Marine bioregional planning is being implemented in five large marine regions.