Coastal regions of Western Australia

Western Australia has the longest coastline of any state or territory in Australia, at 10,194 km[1] or 12,889 km (20,781 km including islands).[2][lower-alpha 1] It is a significant portion of the coastline of Australia, which is 35,877 km (59,736 km including islands).[2]

Commonly used Bureau of Meteorology coastal landmarks

The earliest full charting of the coastline occurred during exploration in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.[3]

The coastline has some features or organisms that are found on the entire length,[4] while some others are specific to particular coastal regions.[5][6]

Various government map posters have been created over time, which have examples of coastal form, or types of coast such as the 1984 map with photos.[7]

Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA)

The IMCRA has offshore regions delineated in a systematic appraisal of ecology and geography.[8]

Coastal regions used in weather reports

Standard Bureau of Meteorology reports include the following reference points for coastal weather reports:[9]

  • North Kimberley Coast: WA/NT border (or to Kuri Bay
  • West Kimberley Coast: Kuri Bay to Wallal (Kimberley land region)
  • Pilbara Coast East: Wallal Downs to Cape Preston (Pilbara land region)
  • Pilbara Coast West: Cape Preston to North West Cape (Pilbara land region)
  • Ningaloo Coast: Northwest Cape to Carnarvon (Gascoyne land region)
  • Gascoyne Coast: north of Carnarvon to Kalbarri (Gascoyne land region)
  • Geraldton Coast: north of Kalbarri to Jurien Bay (Central west land region)
  • Lancelin Coast: Jurien Bay to Two Rocks (Lower west land region)
  • Perth Local Waters: Two Rocks to Dawesville (Lower west land region and/or Perth Metropolitan region)
  • Perth Coast:west of Rottnest and Perth Local Waters (same limits of Two Rocks and Dawesville)
  • Bunbury Geographe Coast: Dawesville to Busselton, (part lower west and part south west land region)
  • Leeuwin Coast: Busselton to west of Denmark (South west land region)
  • Albany Coast: west of Denmark to Bremer Bay (south coast coastal land region)
  • Esperance Coast: Bremer Bay to Israelite Bay (Southeast coastal land region)
  • Eucla Coast: Israelite Bay to SA Border (Eucla land region)

General coastal regions

There are groupings for wider regions that are based very close to the land regions; one made in the 1980s[10] has 8 coastal regions, while the 2003 Coastal Planning and Management Manual has five regions with component sections:[11]

  • Kimberley Coast: Northern Territory / Western Australia border to Broome (2003 manual, figure 2-2 Pilbara Kimberley Region)
  • Canning: Broome to Port Hedland (Cape Keraudren – east of the De Grey River delta in the 2003 manual)
  • Pilbara Coast: Port Hedland to Onslow
  • Coral Coast or Gascoyne region – Onslow to Kalbarri (Shark Bay in the 2003 manual)
  • Kalbarri to Cape Naturaliste: which includes, Batavia Coast, the Central West also known as the Turquoise Coast and another further south known at the Sunset Coast
  • South West Capes: Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin (to Albany in the 2003 manual)
  • South Coast: Cape Leeuwin to Israelite Bay – incorporates the coastal region between Cape Leeuwin and Windy Harbour, usually considered part of the south west
  • South Coast Region or the South East: Israelite Bay (Albany in the 2003 manual) to the Western Australia / South Australian border (Eucla)

Ports, settlements and towns

Fisheries bioregions

Under the Fish Resources Management Act 1994 there are four main regions on the Western Australian coast.[12]

Features

The coastal regions include a range of beaches, cliffs, and coastline features that are dependent upon the underlying geology; the geological provinces have direct relationship to the coastal forms:

Gulfs

Sounds

Specifically referring to Sound (geography)

Archipelagoes and island groups

Aquatic flora

The Western Australian coastline has the greatest diversity of seagrasses in the world, and the meadows they form are among the largest on earth.[13]

See also
Australian context
Local features
Regional divisions
Plants and natural history

Notes
  1. The length of a coastline may vary significantly depending on how it is measured.
  2. Not to be confused with the tourist coast region which might have slightly different start and finish points from the fisheries designated coast

References
  1. Short, Andrew D (2005)Beaches of the Western Australian Coast: Eucla to Roeback Bay ISBN 0-9586504-3-8. page 1
  2. "Coastline Lengths". Geoscience Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. 18 November 2010. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  3. Freycinet, Louis de, 1779-1842 (1919), [Chart of Western Australian coastline], H.J. Pether, Govt. Lithographer, retrieved 10 July 2015{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Wells, Fred E; Western Australian Museum (1978), The distribution of shallow-water marine prosobranch gastropod molluscs along the coastline of Western Australia, retrieved 10 July 2015
  5. Bradshaw, Elizabeth (December 1995), "Dates from archaeological excavations on the Pilbara coastline and islands of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia", Australian Archaeology (41): 37–38, ISSN 0312-2417
  6. Sircombe, K.N; Freeman, M.J (1 October 1999), "Provenance of detrital zircons on the Western Australia coastline – implications for the geologic history of the Perth basin and denudation of the Yilgarn craton.(Statistical Data Included)", Geology, Geological Society of America, Inc, 27 (10): 879(4), doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1999)027<0879:podzot>2.3.co;2, ISSN 0091-7613
  7. Chape, Stuart; Hesp, P. A. (Patrick Alan); Western Australia. Coastal Management Co-ordinating Committee; Western Australia. Dept. of Agriculture; Western Australia. Dept. of Conservation and Environment (1984), Western Australian coastline, Coastal Management Coordinating Committee, retrieved 10 July 2015
  8. http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/imcra/index.html
  9. See the map at http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/wa/wa-forecast-map.shtml Archived 2 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine for locations of the coastal forecast boundary locations
  10. Woods, P.J and Eliot, Ian (1980) The Western Australian Coast being Number 6 of Coastal Management in Western Australia Bulletin Number 49 of the Department of Conservation and Environment
  11. print form: Western Australian Planning Commission.(2003) Coastal planning and management manual : a community guide for protecting and conserving the West Australian Coast Perth, W.A. : Western Australian Planning Commission. ISBN 0-7309-9383-3 – http://henrietta.liswa.wa.gov.au/record=b2151782~S2 Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine: web-based pdfs = http://www.planning.wa.gov.au/Plans+and+policies/Publications/312.aspx Archived 21 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  12. Recreational fishing guides published by the Department of Fisheries (W.A.) in September 2008 map titled 'Western Australia's Fisheries Bioregions'
  13. Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coast plants:Perth and the south-west region Second Edition. University of Western Australia Press. Crawley, Western Australia. ISBN 1-920694-05-6. page 245 – also Part Three: Descriptions and Illustrations of the Seagrasses pp.243-260

Further reading

Flora
  • Rippey, Elizabeth and Rowland, Barbara (2004) Coastal Plants: Perth and the south-west region Second Edition, Crawley, W.A. University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1-920694-05-6

Conferences
  • WA State Coastal Conference (3rd : 2005 : Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton, W.A.)

Title 3rd WA State Coastal Conference, Mandurah – Bunbury – Busselton, November 2005 : coastal solutions : balancing the waves of change : program and papers. Canning Bridge, W.A. : Promaco Conventions Pty Ltd, 2005. ISBN 1-86308-126-7

Locations
  • Murray, Ian and Marion Hercock (2008) Where on the Coast is That? Victoria Park, Western Australia. Hesperian Press. ISBN 978-0-85905-452-2

Government reports
  • Department of Conservation and Land Management, 1994: A Representative Marine Reserves
  • System for Western Australia: Report of the Marine Parks and Reserves Selection Working Group (the Wilson Report).
  • Government of Western Australia, 1998: New Horizons: the Way Ahead in Marine Conservation and Management.
  • Government of Western Australia, 2002b: Focus on the Future: the Western Australian State Sustainability Strategy, Consultation Draft.
  • Government of Western Australia, 2002c: A Biodiversity Conservation Act for Western Australia, Consultation Paper.
  • Western Australian Planning Commission, 2001: Coastal Zone Management Policy for Western Australia, for public comment.
  • Western Australian Planning Commission, 2002: Coastal Planning Program – Status of Coastal Planning in Western Australia 2001/02.
  • Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003a: Statement of Planning Policy No. 2.6: StateCoastal Planning Policy.
  • Western Australian Planning Commission, 2003b: Coastal Planning and Management Manual
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