Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00326:front:0:p77
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00326
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 225196–228428

productivity, aggregations of marine life and high levels of biodiversity and endemism); Kangaroo Island Pool, canyons and adjacent shelf break, and Eyre Peninsula upwelling (valued for high productivity, aggregations of marine life and unique seafloor features with ecological properties of regional significance); mesoscale eddies (valued for high productivity and aggregations of marine life); benthic invertebrate communities of the eastern Great Australian Bight (valued as a species group or community that is nationally and regionally important to biodiversity); and small pelagic fish of the South-west Marine Region (valued as a species group that has a regionally important ecological role).
The Marine Park provides connectivity between deeper offshore waters and the adjacent South Australian Investigator, West Coast Bays and Nuyts Archipelago Marine Parks. Waters surrounding the Nuyts Archipelago and Investigator Group form part of the ecologically important offshore islands that protect the coastline. The Marine Park is a hotspot for productivity, with feeding aggregations of marine mammals, sharks and seabirds.
Natural values
The Marine Park includes examples of ecosystems representative of:
  * Spencer Gulf Shelf—seasonal winds and ocean currents interact with seafloor features to produce a number of small seasonal upwellings that are important for biological productivity. The area is noted for its very diverse seafloor communities, productivity hotspots and aggregations of marine life associated with seasonal upwellings of nutrient-rich water;
  * Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition—a vast and shallow area, characterised by an extensive area of flat continental shelf. The invertebrate communities that inhabit the seafloor are among the most diverse in the world. The inshore areas of the bioregion are globally important for the threatened southern right whale and the Australian sea lion; and
  * Southern Province—includes the deepest ocean areas of the Australian exclusive economic zone, reaching depths of around 5900 m, and is characterised by a long continental slope; numerous, well-developed submarine canyons; and extensive mid-slope terraces such as the Ceduna Terrace.
Key ecological features of the Marine Park are:
  * Ancient coastline between 90 m and 120 m depth—benthic biodiversity and productivity occur where the ancient coastline forms a prominent escarpment;
  * Kangaroo Island Pool, canyons and adjacent shelf break, and Eyre Peninsula upwellings—an area of nutrient-rich upwellings that enhance productivity, supporting seasonal aggregations of marine species;
  * Mesoscale eddies—important transporters of nutrients and plankton communities, which form at predictable locations off the western and south-western shelf break;
  * Benthic invertebrate communities of the eastern Great Australian Bight—includes soft-sediment benthic invertebrate communities of the eastern Great Australian Bight shelf, which form some of the world's most diverse soft-sediment ecosystems; and
  * Small pelagic fish of the South-west Marine Region—provide an important trophic link between plankton communities and larger fish-eating predators in this area.
The Marine Park supports