After Australia and Antarctica severed their final connection along the Tasman Fracture Zone, and the current that circumnavigates Antarctica was established, the sea in the Bight Basin began evolving into the form it’s in today. Learn how your comment data is processed. The whales, which grow up to 18 metres, take their name from the fact that they only occur in the southern hemisphere and were, in the bad old days, the "right" species to harpoon. One location on the bight that is for the understanding of the natural history on its coastline is the Eyre Bird Observatory. This is a distance of 1,160 km or 720 miles.[1]. The break-up commenced as a result of sea-floor spreading of the Bight Basin, proceeding from west to east. Thanks to public pressure, as of February 2020 all of the oil giants – BP, Chevron and Equinor – have now pulled out of the Great Australian Bight. The Great Australian Bight is an open bay off of Australia's mainland. Last week, Norwegian Greens MP Kristoffer Robin Haug called for a stop to Equinor's plans to start drilling in the Great Australian Bight during a speech in the Norwegian Parliament. The more generally accepted boundaries are from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia—a distance of 720 miles (1,160 km). “The Great Australian Bight is the greatest whale nursery on this planet. Join our … The Great Australian Bight receives very little of the runoff that fertilises most continental shelves. Permits must be cancelled, and Australia’s Bight must be fully protected from the fossil fuel industry. Here’s an introduction to some popular words and phrases. Chevron follows BP in exiting the remote and environmentally sensitive region off South Australia, where it … The Great Australian Bight is a large open bay, roughly in the middle of the continent's vast southern edge. Taking pictures of the Moon. T he Great Australian Bight is one of the most unique and productive marine ecosystems in the world. One of the world's largest bights is the Great Australian Bight on the continent's southern coast. These rocks further erode to form a circular bay with a narrow entrance, called … We must fight to protect the Great Australian Bight with the World Heritage listing it deserves. Great Australian Bight Marine Park. “The Bight carries massive risks because it is so remote, so rough, so deep and right in the middle of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park,” says Owen. Three time zones. Whales come to give birth, and it's a refuge for sea lions, dolphins and penguins. The settlements along the coastline with access to the Bight and facilities are Ceduna and Eucla. The whales and wildlife of the Great Australian Bight are still in danger. Your email address will not be published. The fragments of land that are now called Australia have gone through plenty of periods of amalgamation and fragmentation throughout the last few billion years due to constant tectonic action. The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bay off the southern coastline of central and western mainland Australia. About 10 million years later, the Bight Basin had become a well-developed distal ocean-continent transition zone, which only widened as Australia continued on its northward path. But… it’s also pretty weird, as these facts will demonstrate. Four days (at least). It is located off the southern coast's western and central regions. It was later charted by an English navigator in 1802. 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