Great Barrier Reef Coastal Features and Zoning Boundaries, 2004

GBRMPA's dataset contains coastal features within and adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, including the Queensland mainland coastline, coral reef structures, islands, rocks, and cays. It corresponds to the zoning within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park effective 1st July 2004, derived from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003. The data is provided as shapefiles with a nominal scale of 1:250,000.

Use Cases

• Marine habitat mapping based on defined reef shoal edges and island features.
• Zoning compliance analysis for activities like trawling based on the 2004 Marine Park zoning plan.
• Coastal feature inventory and classification for the Queensland mainland and adjacent islands.
• Spatial analysis of representative biodiversity protection areas established by the Representative Areas Program.

Strengths

• Covers a major World Heritage area, extending north to the Torres Strait region.
• Defines specific marine park zones (e.g., General Use, Habitat Protection, Conservation Park) with associated activity restrictions.
• Derived from the authoritative Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003.

Limitations

• Positional accuracy varies considerably and is significantly worse in inshore areas; not suitable for navigation.
• Dataset corresponds to zoning effective July 2004; its current operational relevance may require verification.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), via Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Derived from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan 2003.

Time Range

Zoning effective from 1st July 2004.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 01:45:35.183206; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and adjacent regions, extending north to the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia.