The great barrier reef

 The Great Barrier Reef was one of Australia’s first World Heritage Areas and is the world’s largest World Heritage Area. The Great Barrier Reef was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 and was one of 15 World Heritage places included in the National Heritage List on 21 May 2007. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest World Heritage property extending over 2.000 kilometres and covering 348.000 km2 on the north-east continental shelf of Australia. Larger than Italy, it is one of the best known marine protected areas. The Great Barrier Reefs diversity reflects the maturity of the ecosystem which has evolved over many thousands of years.

It is the world’s most extensive coral reef and has some of the richest biological diversity found anywhere. The Great Barrier Reef contains extensive areas of sea grass, mangrove, sandy and muddy seabed communities, inter-reefal areas, deep oceanic waters and island communities. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Barrier Reef is not a continuous barrier, but a broken maze of around 2.900 individual reefs, of which 760 are fringing reefs along the mainland or around islands.

Some have coral cays. The reefs range in size from less than one hectare to over 1000 kms, and in shape from flat platform reefs to elongated ribbon reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef provides habitat for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1500 species of fish and over 360 species of hard, reef-building corals. More than 4.000 mollusc species and over 1.500 species of sponges have been identified.

Other well-represented animal groups include anemones, marine worms, crustaceans and echinoderms.

The extensive seagrass beds are of an important feeding ground for the dugong. a mammal species internationally listed as vulnerable. The reef also supports a variety of fleshy algae that are heavily grazed by turtles, fish, sea urchins and molluscs.

The reef contains nesting grounds of world significance for the endangered loggerhead turtle, and for green, hawksbill and flat back turtles, which are all listed as vulnerable. It is also a breeding area for humpback whales that come from the Antarctic to give birth in the warm waters.

The islands and cays support around 215 bird species, many of which have breeding colonies there. Reef herons, osprey, pelicans, frigate birds, sea eagles and shearwaters are among the sea birds that have been recorded.

The Great Barrier Reef is also of cultural importance, containing many archaeological sites of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, including fish traps, middens, rock quarries, story sites and rock art. Some notable examples occur on Lizard and Hinchinbrook Islands, and on Stanley. Cliff and Clack Islands where there are spectacular galleries of rock paintings. There are over 30 historic ship wrecks in the area, and on the islands are ruins, operating lighthouses and other sites that are of cultural and historical significance.

About 99.3 per cent of the World Heritage property is within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, with the remainder in Queensland waters and islands. Because of its status, many people think the entire Great Barrier Reefs a marine sanctuary or national park, and therefore protected equally throughout. However, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is a multiple-use area in which a wide range of activities and uses are allowed, including extractive industries.

This has been achieved using a comprehensive, multiple-use zoning system. Impacts and conflicts are minimized by providing high levels of protection for specific areas.

A variety of other activities are allowed to continue in a managed way in certain zones (such as shipping, dredging, research, commercial fishing and recreational fishing).

A new Zoning Plan for the entire Marine Park came into effect on 1 July 2001. The proportion of the Marine Park protected by no-take zones was increased from less than five per cent to over 33 per cent, and now protects representative examples of each of the 70 broad habitat types across the entire Marine Park. Two authorities are now responsible for the Great Barrier Reef: the Queensland Government and the Australian Government. The majority of the World Heritage property is still relatively pristine when compared with coral reef ecosystems elsewhere in the world. Guided by the principle of balancing conservation and sustainable use. the regulatory framework significantly enhances the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Australian and Queensland Governments have a cooperative and integrated approach to managing the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is theAustralian Government agency responsible for overall management, and theQueensland Government, particularly the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, provides day-to-day management of the marine park for the Authority.