Turning the Tide Newsletter – Spring 2024
Great Southern Reef
The Great Southern Reef is home to an enormous diversity of wildlife, such as giant kelp forests, sea lions, blue gropers, giant cuttlefish, rock lobsters, bluefin tuna, southern right whales and weedy sea dragons.
Wrapping around Australia’s southern coastline, from Brisbane to Perth, fringed by rocky reefs and kelp forests, the Great Southern Reef covers 71,000 square km.
The Great Southern Reef is a masterpiece of abundant life and underwater beauty.
The GSR is an interconnected system of temperate reefs spanning over 8,000 km around Australia’s southern coastline, from Kalbarri in Western Australia to the NSW/ Queensland state border.
It is a global biodiversity hotspot with many species found nowhere else on the planet. From crabs, seadragons and starfish to our unique Australian sea lions and giant Australian cuttlefish.
The landscape is dominated by kelp forests, seaweed, seagrass meadows, oyster reefs, sponges and gorgonians (soft coral) reef habitats.
Thank you
The 1,000 kilometre stretch of the Great Southern Reef from WA’s Bremer Bay to the South Australian border currently has no marine sanctuary protections!
We need to urge the government to increase marine sanctuary protection for crucial areas.
Creating a network of strong marine sanctuaries will help keep ocean life healthy, support sustainable fishing andpreserve our treasured coastal lifestyle for future generations.
Thank you to 20,000+ ocean-lovers for signing the petition for strong marine sanctuaries, potentially creating Australia’s next great marine park – the WA South Coast Marine Park.