Abstract

The Coral Sea Marine Park is one of the world's largest marine protected areas. Offshore northeast Australia in the Pacific Ocean, it is a vast and remote relatively healthy wilderness. It covers almost 1 million square km, with over 60 uninhabited islands, over 1800 reefs, a Ramsar wetland, canyons, seamounts and abyssal plains. To understand the health and changes in this complex ecosystem, a collaborative approach is being taken. Partnerships with government management agencies, research organizations, universities, and volunteers has recently substantially increased knowledge of the natural values and pressures on the Marine Park. Work includes shallow reef dive and deep reef ROV surveys, discovery of new corals and fish, aerial and drone high-resolution habitat photography, assessments of seabird populations, turtle nesting track counts, vegetation mapping, invertebrate assessments, pest checks and marine debris load and source analysis. The management of the Marine Park and new information on reef and island habitats and species will be presented, as well as the information gaps remaining for exploration