Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00326:front:0:p91
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00326
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 263691–266665

located approximately 52 km west of Perth and approximately 19 km west of Rottnest Island. The Marine Park covers an area of 7409 km² and water depths range between 120 m and 5000 m.
The Marine Park was proclaimed under the EPBC Act on 14 December 2013 and renamed Perth Canyon Marine Park on 9 October 2017. The Marine Park is assigned IUCN category IV and includes three zones assigned under this plan: National Park Zone (II), Habitat Protection Zone (IV) and Multiple Use Zone (VI).
Coordinates for the Perth Canyon Marine Park and zones are provided in Figure S2.11 and Schedule 4.
Statement of significance
The Perth Canyon Marine Park is significant because it includes habitats, species and ecological communities associated with four bioregions: Central Western Province; South-west Shelf Province; South-west Transition; and South-west Shelf Transition. It includes four key ecological features: Perth Canyon and adjacent shelf break, and other west-coast canyons (valued for high biological productivity and aggregations of marine life, and unique seafloor features with ecological properties of regional significance); demersal slope and associated fish communities of the Central Western Province (valued as a species group that are nationally or regionally important to biodiversity); western rock lobster (valued as a species that plays a regionally important ecological role); and mesoscale eddies (valued for high productivity and aggregations of marine life).
The Marine Park includes the majority of the Perth Canyon, Australia's largest submarine canyon, which is home to the largest feeding aggregations of blue whales in Australia. This unique feature is also of particular significance because it cuts into the continental shelf at approximately 150 m depth west of Rottnest Island, linking the shelf with deeper ecosystems at depths of up to 5000 m.
The Marine Park represents the southern end of the transition area from tropical to temperate marine environments.
Natural values
The Marine Park includes examples of ecosystems representative of:
  * Central Western Province—characterised by a narrow continental slope incised by many submarine canyons, including Perth Canyon, and the most extensive area of continental rise in any of Australia's marine regions. A significant feature within the area are several eddies that form off the Leeuwin Current at predictable locations, including the Perth Canyon;
  * South-west Shelf Province—marine life in this area is diverse and influenced by the warm waters of the Leeuwin Current;
  * South-west Transition—significant features of this area include the submarine canyons that incise the northern parts of the slope and the deep-water mixing that results from the dynamics of major ocean currents when these meet the seafloor, particularly in the Perth Canyon; and
  * South-west Shelf Transition—consists of a narrow continental shelf that is noted for its physical complexity. The Leeuwin Current