Australia
Tasmania's coastline forms part of Australia's Great Southern Reef, a cool-temperate reef system renowned for its giant and golden kelp forests and unique endemic marine life.
Tasmania is separated from mainland Australia by Bass Strait. Its surrounding waters belong to the Great Southern Reef, an interconnected temperate reef system along Australia's southern coastline, dependent on cool, oxygen-rich waters and dense kelp forests. Diving areas such as the Governor Island nature reserve near Bicheno sit within this system. An estimated 95% of Tasmania's giant kelp forests have died off due to warming waters and urchin invasion, and the area hosts critically endangered endemic species such as the red handfish.