Central Eastern Marine Park links the continental shelf to the Tasmantid Seamounts, a far offshore chain of extinct undersea volcanoes.

The marine park provides a high level of protection for its seafloor features and the marine life they’re home to. This includes:

• undersea canyons
• slopes
• deep seafloor plains
• pinnacles.

As scientists explore the marine park’s seamounts in more detail, we expect to find very rich marine life communities, including species found nowhere else.

The marine park is important for foraging seabirds.

Whales and grey nurse sharks travel through the marine park on their migrations.

Central Eastern Marine Park begins 30 kilometres east of Coffs Harbour. It covers 70,054 square kilometres, with depths from 120 metres to 6000 metres.

It has National Park, Habitat Protection and Multiple Use zones.

Explore

Visit the Australian Marine Parks Solitary Islands Marine Park page to find out about activities and places to visit, including spectacular diving at Pimpernel Rock.

Discover

The Tasmantid Seamounts are a chain of over 16 extinct undersea volcanoes running from the Coral Sea southwards off the east coast of Australia.

The seamounts are between 40 million and 6 million years old. Some seamounts rise up from 4800 metres deep to within 125 metres of the surface.

Some have flattish tops, indicating they once emerged above sea level, where they were eroded.

Central Eastern Marine Park protects all the seamounts in the central part of the chain.