Marine Protected Areas
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system off the coast of Queensland, Australia, renowned for exceptional biodiversity and complex geomorphology. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981, it spans hundreds of thousands of square kilometres and is managed principally through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and national-state conservation plans.
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench is the deepest known oceanic trench on Earth, located in the western Pacific Ocean east of the Mariana Islands. Its maximum measured depths in the Challenger Deep are around 10,924–10,935 meters below sea level, and the trench extends for more than 2,500 kilometers in length. It formed where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Philippine Sea Plate and includes diverse geological features, unique hadal ecosystems, and areas protected within the U.S. Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.