Argo-Rowley Terrace Marine Park

Conservation values

Species and habitat

• Important foraging areas for migratory seabirds and the endangered loggerhead turtle.
• Important area for sharks, which are found in abundance around the Rowley Shoals relative to other areas in the region.
• The reserve provides protection for the communities and habitats of the deeper offshore waters of the region in depth ranges from to over.

Bioregions and ecology

• The reserve provides protection for many seafloor features including aprons and fans, canyons, continental rise, knolls/abyssal hills and the terrace and continental slope.
• Examples of the communities and seafloor habitats of the Northwest Transition and Timor Province provincial bioregions.
• The reserve provides connectivity between the existing Mermaid Reef Marine Park and reefs of the Western Australian Rowley Shoals Marine Park and the deeper waters of the region.
• Canyons linking the Argo Abyssal Plain with the Scott Plateau.
• Mermaid Reef and the Commonwealth waters surrounding Rowley Shoals.

History

Summary of protection zones