Coral Sea Marine Park

Coral Sea Marine Park is an Australian marine protected area in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland, directly adjacent to and east of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Established on 1 July 2018, it covers nearly 989,836 square kilometers, making it the largest individual marine park in Australia, and together with the Natural Park of the Coral Sea, administered by France, it forms part of what has been described as the largest protected area in the world. It protects humpback whale migration corridors, green turtle nesting sites, seabird breeding grounds for noddies, terns, boobies and frigatebirds, and populations of white sharks and whale sharks, along with the Queensland and Marion Plateaux reefs and historic shipwrecks from the Second World War Battle of the Coral Sea. It is managed by Parks Australia and classified under IUCN protected area category IV. This entity is distinct from the Coral Sea, the body of water within which the marine park lies.