| NEW
SOUTH WALES |
| New
South Wales has diverse tropical and temperate marine communities
such as coral reefs, rocky reefs, estuaries, coastal lakes and mangroves.
Eighty percent of the population of NSW lives in the coastal zone, mostly
within Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle. The state has eight reserves
and 30 marine protected areas. |
| What's
it like? |
| The
NSW coastline is naturally divided into three regions based on broad oceanographic
characteristics and the geological structure of the coast. The northern
subtropical region extends from the Queensland border south to Sugar Loaf
Point near Point Stephens and is under the dominant influence of the warm
East Australian Current. The southern cool temperate region extends from
the Victoria border north to about Jervis Bay and is influenced by cooler
waters and current from Bass Strait well to the south. The central region
is a mixed zone, variously influences by the East Australian Current and
its eddies, and by cooler current from the south, but mainly characterised
by mixed water from those two sources. It extends from Sugarloaf Point
in the north to Jervis Bay in the South. |
| What
lives there? |
| The
oceanographic characteristics of the NW coastline have influenced the
animals and plants, which inhabit its marine waters. In the northern region,
animal and plant communities are the same as those found to the further
north; the southern region contains communities, which have extended their
range northwards from Victoria. As with marine waters themselves, communities
inhabiting the central region are a mixture of species, some of which
have a southern and others a northern origin. |
| What
are the problems? |
| The
growth of population along the NSW coast in recent years has increased
the pressure on our fragile ecosystems. The problems include: |
