Uncharted waters
Australia’s Ningaloo Coast teems with marine life, but its survival depends on the biodiverse Exmouth Gulf nearby. With support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, Mission Blue Hope Spot Champion Ben Fitzpatrick is working to show how connected and complementary the two ecosystems are and to protect them as one.
On the remote north-western tip of Australia, arid land turns to white sands, which fall away into clear, turquoise waters. Just beneath the surface is one of the planet’s largest fringing coral reefs, growing in the shallow waters that lap the shore. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ningaloo Coast stretches across hundreds of kilometres and is subject to the high levels of protection that preserve its exceptional beauty and remarkable marine life. It may be most famous for the whale sharks that visit the coast each year, but Ningaloo’s coral reef is also home to hundreds of species of corals and tropical fish, nesting turtles, manta rays, molluscs, sponges and seagrasses.
