The Park includes 10,000 hectares of coral reef, made up of 360 species of coral – about half the world’s total. It is also home to about 600 species of fish, 12 species of sharks, 13 species of dolphins and whales, and over 100 species of birds, and it provides nesting sites for Hawksbill & Green sea turtles.
The Park faces several threats including illegal harvesting of protected species, illegal fishing, damage to coral during the late 1990s, an ongoing crown-of-thorns starfish infestation that was first detected in 2007, and increasing volumes of marine debris which are adversely affecting the Park’s seabirds and marine life. The Park is working to manage these threats by maintaining enforcement patrols, removing crown-of-thorns starfish to keep the population under control, and undertaking regular surface water and coastal cleanups to collect marine debris for proper disposal outside the park.