Skip to main content

Menu AMPS

  • Science Atlas
  • Marine parks
    • Coral Sea
      • Coral Sea
    • North
      • Arafura
      • Arnhem
      • Gulf of Carpentaria
      • Joseph Bonaparte Gulf
      • Limmen
      • Oceanic Shoals
      • Wessel
      • West Cape York
    • North-west
      • Argo-Rowley Terrace
      • Ashmore Reef
      • Carnarvon Canyon
      • Cartier Island
      • Dampier
      • Eighty Mile Beach
      • Gascoyne
      • Kimberley
      • Mermaid Reef
      • Montebello
      • Ningaloo
      • Roebuck
      • Shark Bay
    • South-east
      • Apollo
      • Beagle
      • Boags
      • East Gippsland
      • Flinders
      • Franklin
      • Freycinet
      • Huon
      • Macquarie Island
      • Murray
      • Nelson
      • South Tasman Rise
      • Tasman Fracture
      • Zeehan
    • South-west
      • Abrolhos
      • Bremer
      • Eastern Recherche
      • Geographe
      • Great Australian Bight
      • Jurien
      • Murat
      • Perth Canyon
      • South-west Corner
      • Southern Kangaroo Island
      • Twilight
      • Two Rocks
      • Western Eyre
      • Western Kangaroo Island
    • Temperate East
      • Central Eastern
      • Cod Grounds
      • Gifford
      • Hunter
      • Jervis
      • Lord Howe
      • Norfolk
      • Solitary Islands
    • Indian Ocean Territories
      • Christmas Island
      • Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  • Learn
    • Marine park science
    • Recent research
    • Natural values
    • Key maps
    • Latest maps
  • Videos
  • Images
  • Science Atlas
  • Marine parks
    • Coral Sea
      • Coral Sea
    • North
      • Arafura
      • Arnhem
      • Gulf of Carpentaria
      • Joseph Bonaparte Gulf
      • Limmen
      • Oceanic Shoals
      • Wessel
      • West Cape York
    • North-west
      • Argo-Rowley Terrace
      • Ashmore Reef
      • Carnarvon Canyon
      • Cartier Island
      • Dampier
      • Eighty Mile Beach
      • Gascoyne
      • Kimberley
      • Mermaid Reef
      • Montebello
      • Ningaloo
      • Roebuck
      • Shark Bay
    • South-east
      • Apollo
      • Beagle
      • Boags
      • East Gippsland
      • Flinders
      • Franklin
      • Freycinet
      • Huon
      • Macquarie Island
      • Murray
      • Nelson
      • South Tasman Rise
      • Tasman Fracture
      • Zeehan
    • South-west
      • Abrolhos
      • Bremer
      • Eastern Recherche
      • Geographe
      • Great Australian Bight
      • Jurien
      • Murat
      • Perth Canyon
      • South-west Corner
      • Southern Kangaroo Island
      • Twilight
      • Two Rocks
      • Western Eyre
      • Western Kangaroo Island
    • Temperate East
      • Central Eastern
      • Cod Grounds
      • Gifford
      • Hunter
      • Jervis
      • Lord Howe
      • Norfolk
      • Solitary Islands
    • Indian Ocean Territories
      • Christmas Island
      • Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  • Learn
    • Marine park science
    • Recent research
    • Natural values
    • Key maps
    • Latest maps
  • Videos
  • Images

Discover

Australian Marine Parks
© all rights reserved

Search form

<
Australia > North > Oceanic Shoals

Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

  • Research
  • Natural values
  • Maps
  • Latest maps
  • Scientific papers
Olive Ridley turtle in the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park
UWA - Centre for Marine Futures
Image gallery
Network: North
Marine park area: 71,743 kilometres2
Depth range: less than 15 – 500 metres
Average depth: 87 metres
More info about this marine park

Oceanic Shoals Marine Park is located west of the Tiwi Islands, about 155 kilometres north-west of Darwin. It is the largest of the marine parks in the North Network. Oceanic Shoals Marine Park represents an important habitat for threatened marine turtles such as the flatback, olive ridley, and loggerhead turtles, and contains four Key Ecological Features that contribute to the enhanced productivity and high biodiversity observed in this area. This includes the Pinnacles of the Bonaparte Basin, an area that contains the largest concentration of pinnacles along the Australian margin where local upwellings of nutrient rich water attract aggregations of fish and seabirds.

Video

This film provides a summary of the scientific research undertaken by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Geoscience Australia, the University of Western Australia and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory during a marine biodiversity survey to Oceanic Shoals Marine Park in 2012. The survey has provided us with much of what we know about the biodiversity in this remote region.

Research

These short articles highlight the findings from ongoing scientific research within the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park, including exciting new discoveries and ideas for future projects.
Pleurosicya mossambica

Cryptic fishes of Australian Marine Parks

Small and/or camouflaged fish species hidden on or near the reef surface are commonly referred to as ‘cryptic’ or ‘cryptobenthic’ fishes. These species are characteristically difficult to see but are diverse and abundant throughout Australian Marine Parks and may play an important role in supporting the larger predatory fish species protected within park boundaries.
Green moon wrasse in Emily Bay lagoon

Extraordinary diversity of shallow reef habitats in Australian Marine Parks

Parks Australia manage 60 Australian Marine Parks, many of which include shallow reefs. These reef habitats are hugely diverse, and include tropical reefs dominated by hard corals; current-swept offshore bommies covered in sea whips, sea fans and soft corals; temperate rocky reefs with sea urchin barrens or low lying colourful seaweeds; and deeper rocky reefs with sessile invertebrates and large black coral trees.
Brittlestars in the Kimberley Marine Park

Observed distribution of 13 marine species in the Marine Parks of the North and North-West

Find out where 13 marine species have been observed in the Marine Parks of the N and NW networks.

Natural values

Our marine parks have a number of different values, including natural, cultural, heritage and socio-economic values. The natural values of our marine parks refer to the habitats, species and ecological communities within them, and the processes that support their connectivity, productivity and function. Below are the key datasets that help inform park managers about the natural values that exist within our network of Australian Marine Parks. For more information on other park values refer to the relevant park Management Plans on the Parks Australia website.

Biologically important areas

See where sea lions, sea birds, whales, dolphins and turtles like to breed, forage and nest.

Bioregions

See which areas of Australia's oceans have similar characteristics.
KEF Preview Imange

Key ecological features

See which habitats, features and processes scientists consider particularly important for biodiversity and ecosystem health.
Ramsar Preview Image Ampsatlas

RAMSAR wetlands

See which wetlands of international significance are protected by Australian Marine Parks.

Maps

The information provided by these datasets was integral in the planning and development of our national network of marine parks. Learn in detail about how scientists and marine park planners used these important marine features together to design Australia's network of marine parks, or explore the datasets for the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park individually through the links below.
Bathomes Preview Imange

Bathomes

See which areas of Marine Parks are of similar depth.
Bathymetry Preview Imange

Bathymetry (250 metre resolution)

Compare how deep the waters are within and between the Australian Marine Parks.
mean primary productivity hotspots

Chlorophyll-a and ocean productivity

See where Australian's oceans are (and aren't) rich in phytoplankton.
Preview Image Geomorph

Geomorphology

Explore the banks, pinnacles, troughs and other features of the seafloor in Australian Marine Parks.

National Offshore Petroleum Titles

Find out where activities to search for and extract petroleum offshore are planned, underway or cancelled.
rates of ocean warming

Sea surface temperature

Check out the typical water temperature in Australian Marine Parks.
Species Richness Preview Image Ampsatlas

Species richness

See where species richness is at its highest and lowest across Australian Marine Parks.
WHA Preview Imange Ampsatlas

World heritage areas

See which areas of Australia's marine environments have been World Heritage listed.

Latest maps

Since the initial planning of the Australian Marine Parks Network in 2012, new mapping data has emerged that allows us to see in finer detail the features that exist within our parks. These datasets help marine managers to understand more about what's under the surface, where there are overlaying management or protection regimes, and/or where pressures on the marine environment may be increasing.

30 metre bathymetry of the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

Fine scale bathymetry information is available for the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

Geomorphology of the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

Explore the seafloor features of the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

Predicted seafloor habitats in the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park

Learn more about what lives on the seafloor in the Oceanic Shoals Marine Park: hard and soft corals, sponges, burrowers, algae and seagrass
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Reef Life Survey site locations

See where Reef Life Survey have gathered important data about Australian reefs.

Where have ships mapped the seafloor with sonar?

Find out where the seafloor has been mapped with sonar across the Marine Parks.

Which Marine Parks are exposed to the most tropical cyclone activity?

Examine how exposure to tropical cyclone activity varies across Australian Marine Parks.

Scientific papers

The following publications contain information relevant to the Oceanic Shoals marine park and adjacent waters. Click on the links to access to the publications.
  • Heap, A. D, Nichol, S. L and Brooke, B. P. (2014). Seabed mapping to support geological storage of carbon dioxide in offshore Australia.
  • Przeslawski, R, Alvarez, B, Battershill, C and Smith, T. (2014). Sponge biodiversity and ecology of the Van Diemen Rise and eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, northern Australia.
Share Tweet
TOP