| Type: | protected |
| Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park | |
| State: | au |
| Coordinates: | -35.7646°N 136.2844°W |
| Relief: | yes |
| Pushpin Label Position: | top |
| Nearest Town Or City: | Kingscote, South Australia |
| Area: | 2335.31 |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Established Footnotes: | [2] |
| Managing Authorities: | Director of National Parks |
| Url: | https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/parks/south-west/western-kangaroo-island/ |
Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park (formerly Western Kangaroo Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve) is a marine protected area located south of South Australia in waters within the Australian Exclusive economic zone to the south-west of Kangaroo Island and ranging in depth from 15m (49feet) to 165m (541feet).[3]
It was gazetted in November 2012.[2] It was renamed on 11 October 2017.[4]
It is part of a group of Australian marine parks managed by the Department of the Environment and Energy known as the South-west Marine Parks Network. It adjoins the Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park managed by the Government of South Australia which it both bounds on its north-west side and fully encloses the portion of the state marine park surrounding Lipson Reef near its eastern extent.[5] [3]
The marine park includes ecosystems representative of the bioregion known as the "Spencer Gulf Shelf Province", two "key ecological features" consisting of firstly of a feature known as the "Kangaroo Island Pool" and the associated "Eyre Peninsula upwelling" both notable for their "high productivity, breeding and feeding aggregations" and secondly of a feature described as "Ancient coastline" within a depth range of 90- and as being of "high productivity", a calving area for southern right whale and feeding areas for the following species - Australian sea lion, blue whale, Caspian tern, great white shark, short-tailed shearwater and sperm whale.[3]
The marine park consists of two zones - a marine national park zone (IUCN Category II) with an area of 120km2 and a special purpose zone (IUCN Category VI) with an area of 2215km2.[1] [3]