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Dolphins

Brighter areas are where more dolphin sightings have been recorded.
Individual records you can click for species, date and source.

Marine parks

How each part of a Commonwealth marine park is managed today, in the official Australian Marine Parks zone colours.
Areas the Australian Government has proposed to add to the marine park network.
Managed by state governments, inside 3 nautical miles.

Important habitat

Areas the Government has mapped as biologically important, for feeding, breeding, calving, migrating or resting. Click one for the species and what it was mapped for.
Independently identified by the IUCN as important for marine mammals. Click one for why it qualified.

Pressures on dolphins

Places where busy vessel routes cross areas dolphins use. Brighter red means a higher risk of collision.
Individual ship tracks recorded in 2020. Busier corridors show as denser bundles of lines.
Darker areas are where ocean conditions are most degraded, based on water chemistry, oxygen, and food-web productivity.
Red is a well inside a production licence that is still current. Orange is a live exploration title. Grey means the title has lapsed, paler the older the well.
Factories, refineries, mines and waste facilities that report pollutant releases to the National Pollutant Inventory. Coastal sites can discharge into dolphin habitat.
Lethal shark control equipment that also catches dolphins.
Where Commonwealth-managed commercial fishing concentrates. The brighter the pink, the heavier the fishing. Pick a fishery, or leave it on the combined total and drag the year.

Ocean depth

Context

Australia's marine ecosystem regions, used to check protection is spread across all habitat types.
The 200 nautical mile limit of Australian waters, including the external territories: Norfolk, Macquarie, Christmas, Cocos (Keeling) and Heard and McDonald Islands.
Legend
Dolphin sighting data (c) respective providers under CC BY 4.0, CC BY 3.0 AU and CC0 1.0. Sources include the Atlas of Living Australia, GBIF, iNaturalist Australia contributors, the Queensland Shark Control Program and Palmer et al. 2007-2011. Marine park boundaries and zoning from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Ocean depth contours from AusBathyTopo 2024 (Geoscience Australia). Shipping routes (c) Commonwealth of Australia (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) 2020, used under CC BY-NC 3.0 AU. AMSA vessel tracking is indicative only and must not be used for navigation. Biologically Important Areas from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Important Marine Mammal Areas (c) IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force. Global ocean depth (c) GEBCO Compilation Group. Commercial fishing data (c) Commonwealth of Australia (ABARES) 2024, Fishery Status Reports map data, used under CC BY 4.0, compiled from AFMA logbook returns. Analysis and mapping by Action for Dolphins. Place name labels (c) CARTO / OpenStreetMap contributors.