THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT
The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic embayment off Australia’s central southern coastline, extending 1160km from Cape Catastrophe on the Eyre Peninsula, SA, to Cape Pasley east of Esperance, WA. Covering an area of almost 46,000sqkm, the Bight overlies a very wide continental shelf to depths ranging from 15–6000m and is considered part of the Southern Ocean.
A remarkable feature of the Bight is the limestone rampart of the Bunda Cliffs that rise sheer from the ocean to heights up to 120m. Arrayed for nearly 200km along the South Australian coast to the Western Australian border, they form the longest uninterrupted line of sea cliffs in the world. The cliffs mark the edge of the vast Nullarbor Plain, an arid relic of an ancient seabed deposited some 65 million years ago.
At the eastern end of the Bight, island archipelagos guard a coastline scalloped by numerous bays, rocky headlands, and surf beaches. Within the larger bays are towns which serve inland farming communities and support fishing and aquaculture industries that thrive in the coastal waters. Tourism makes a significant contribution to regional economies through whale watching, sport fishing and charter cruising.
The Bight’s pristine marine environment supports great biodiversity and provides crucial habitats for endangered southern right whales and colonies of threatened Australian sea-lions. State and Commonwealth marine parks encompass large parts of the Bight, while the entire Nullarbor Plain in South Australia is covered
