Beagle Marine Park lies in the Bass Strait between Victoria's Wilsons Promontory and Tasmania's Flinders Island. It is a shallow-water marine park surrounding a collection of Bass Strait Islands. Habitats within Beagle Marine Park are believed to be representative of the central Bass Strait, which are diverse benthic communities and include reefs supporting encrusting, erect and branching sponges. This marine park provides important foraging grounds for pygmy blue whales and nearby breeding colonies of seabirds, and the rich marine life it contains attracts top predators such as the great white shark and ocras.
Video
This is the first video footage collected from Beagle Marine Park. It contains examples of temperate rocky reef habitat, including extensive sponge gardens and an unusually large congregation of Port Jackson sharks.
Research
These short articles highlight the findings from ongoing scientific research within the Beagle Marine Park, including exciting new discoveries and ideas for future projects.
Beagle Marine Park contains an extensive area of soft sediment with some areas of rocky reef, which are likely to be a relict sand dune field prior to sea level rise.
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.
Over the last decade scientists at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) have been using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to conduct photographic surveys of seafloor (benthic) communities in Australian Marine Parks (AMPs) across the South-east Marine Parks Network (the SE Network). This project used this imagery to provide the first description of the biological communities across these marine parks and how they have changed over time.
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.
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.
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 Beagle Marine Park individually through the links below.
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.
Find out where the seafloor has been mapped with sonar across the Marine Parks.
Scientific papers
The following publications contain information relevant to the Beagle marine park and adjacent waters. Click on the links to access to the publications.
Sherwood, J, Chidgey, S, Crockett, P, Gwyther, D, Ho, P, Stewart, S, Strong, D, Whitely, B and Williams, A. (2016).
Installation and operational effects of a HVDC submarine cable in a continental shelf setting: Bass Strait, Australia.
Edgar, G. J and Barrett, N. S. (2012).
An assessment of population responses of common inshore fishes and invertebrates following declaration of five Australian marine protected areas.
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