Great Barrier Reef Marine Park/Australia

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports and shipping, recreation, scientific research and Indigenous traditional use.

Fishing and the removal of artefacts or wildlife (fish, coral, seashells, etc.) is strictly regulated, and commercial shipping traffic must stick to certain specific defined shipping routes that avoid the most sensitive areas of the park. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest and best known coral reef ecosystem in the world.

Its reefs, almost 3000 in total, represent about 10 per cent of all the coral reef areas in the world. It supports an amazing variety of biodiversity, providing a home to thousands of coral and other invertebrate species, bony fish, sharks, rays, marine mammals, marine turtles, sea snakes, as well as algae and other marine plants.

Here are some interesting and fun facts about the Great Barrier Reef:

• The Great Barrier Reef as we know it today, began to form over 2 million years ago and is constantly changing in size and structure
• There are over 900 islands within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority or GBRMPA, is responsible for the well-being and protection of the reef
• It is the largest reef system in the world
• Over 2,000 species of animals call the reef home, including over 1,500 species of fish, over 200 species of birds, 6 species of sea turtles and over 30 species of whales and dolphins
• The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 2,300 kilometres down the East Coast of Australia
• It covers 344,400 km2
• Reefs only contribute about 7% to the entirety of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, with islands, cays, mangroves, sand, algal and sponge gardens and seagrass making up the rest
• There are 600 types of soft and hard corals that make up the reef
• It is said that 10% of the world’s fish population is found on the reef
• The Great Barrier Reef is located in the Coral Sea
• Around 2 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef every year
• The Great Barrier Reef was named a UNESCO World Heritage listed area in 1981
• The Reef covers an area from the Torres Strait to Bundaberg, in Northern Queensland
• Google offers an ‘underwater street view’ of the Great Barrier Reef where you can virtually swim around the reefs for a first-hand point of view

The Great Barrier Reef continues to thrive and grow every day, teaching us amazing things about its diverse ecosystem and local inhabitants. It is one of the most beautiful and astonishing places in the world and a national icon of Australia. As a source of national pride, it continues to be protected and cared for by its protectors, in hopes that it will be around for many, many generations to come.