Cape Byron Marine Park is located in Northern New South Wales, Australia and is the most recently established marine park in the region.
It covers an area of 220 square kilometers and extends from the Brunswick River to Lennox Head. The park includes various marine habitats such as beaches, rocky shores, open ocean, and tidal waters. It was established in 2002 and has zoning regulations in place since April 2006 to accommodate commercial and recreational activities like fishing, swimming, diving, and beach activities.
The marine park experiences a sub-tropical climate influenced by the East Australian Current (EAC), with monthly average sea temperatures ranging from 27.1 degrees Celsius in February to 21.6 degrees Celsius in July. The EAC plays a crucial role in transporting tropical flora and fauna into the temperate zones of the Southern Hemisphere. Cape Byron Marine Park is located in the Eastern Overlap Zone, where warm waters from the north meet cooler waters from the south.
The park is home to diverse marine ecosystems, including estuaries, rocky shores, sub-tidal reefs, sandy beaches, and open oceans. These habitats support a variety of flora and fauna. The local flora, such as mangroves, seagrasses, kelp, saltmarshes, and algae, provide food, habitat, and breeding grounds for marine animals and birdlife.
The marine park is rich in marine life, including dolphins, sharks, rays, turtles, eels, starfish, coral fish, seabirds, and marine plants. The Brunswick River, which is part of the park, also supports a range of marine species.
These include tourism and recreational use, fishing, pollution