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The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea.


Geography

The Arafura Sea is bordered by the Gulf of Carpentaria and the continent of Australia to the south, the
Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs ...
to the west, the
Banda Banda may refer to: People * Banda (surname) * Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician * Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor * Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician *Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh ...
and Seram seas to the northwest, and the Torres Strait to the east. (Just across the strait, farther to the east, lies the
Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...
). The Arafura Sea is long and wide. The depth of the sea is in most places, with the depth increasing to the west. The sea lies over the Arafura Shelf, which is a section of the Sahul Shelf. When sea levels were low during the last
glacial maximum An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, the Arafura Shelf, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait formed a large, flat,
land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea lev ...
that connected Australia and New Guinea and eased the migration of humans from
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
into Australia. The combined landmass formed the continent of
Sahul __NOTOC__ Sahul (), also called Sahul-land, Meganesia, Papualand and Greater Australia, was a paleocontinent that encompassed the modern-day landmasses of mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the Aru Islands. Sahul was in the south-we ...
.


Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) categorizes the Arafura Sea as one of the bodies of water of the East Indian Archipelago. The IHO defines its limits as follows:
''On the North.'' The Southeastern limit of the
Ceram Sea The Seram Sea or Ceram Sea ( id, Laut Seram) is one of several small seas between the scattered islands of Indonesia. It is a section of the Pacific Ocean with an area of approximately located between Buru and Seram, which are two of the islands ...
line from Karoefa, New Guinea, to the Southeastern extreme of Adi Island, thence to Tg. Borang, the Northern point of Noehoe Tjoet [Kai Besar] ()] and the Eastern limit of the Banda Sea [From Tg Borang, the Northern point of Noehoe Tjoet, through this island to its Southern point, thence a line to the Northeast point of Fordata, through this island and across to the Northeast point of Larat,
Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the southwest of Yamdena, Larat and Ford ...
(), down the East coast of Jamdena /nowiki>Yamdena.html" ;"title="Yamdena.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Yamdena">/nowiki>Yamdena">Yamdena.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Yamdena">/nowiki>Yamdena/nowiki> Island to its Southern point, thence through Anggarmasa to the North point of Selaroe and through this island to Tg Aro Oesoe its Southern point ()]. ''On the East.'' The Southwest coast of New Guinea from Karoefa (133°27'E) to the entrance to the Bensbak River (141°01'E), and thence a line to the Northwest extreme of York Peninsula, Australia (). ''On the South.'' By the North coast of Australia from the Northwest extreme of York Peninsula to
Cape Don Cape Don Light is an active lighthouse located on Cape Don, at the tip of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia, in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, marking the entrance to the Dundas Strait. It is Australia's northernmost tr ...
(). ''On the West.'' A line from Cape Don to Tanjong Aro Oesoe, the Southern point of Selaroe (
Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the southwest of Yamdena, Larat and Ford ...
).


Name

European recording of the name “Arafura Sea” dates back to at least 1663, when Joan Blaeu recorded in the text on his wall map of the East Indies ("Archipelagus Orientalis, sive Asiaticus") that the inland inhabitants of the Moluccas call themselves "Alfores". The sea's name also appeared in
George Windsor Earl George Windsor Earl (1813–1865), was an English navigator and author of works on the Indian Archipelago. He coined the term 'Indu-nesian', later adopted as the name for Indonesia. Biography Earl was born in London around 1813. He travelled to ...
's 1837 ''Sailing Directions for the Arafura Sea'', which he compiled from the narratives of Lieuts. Kolff and Modera of the
Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...
. Although it has been suggested that the name for the Arafura Sea is an alteration of the Portuguese word "Alfours", meaning "free men", it seems more likely that sea is named after the Harrafora, the indigenous name for "the people of mountains" in the Moluccas (part of Indonesia). This was the explanation recorded by the Dutch Lieutenants Kolff and Modera in the 1830s. Thomas Forrest sailed through the Moluccas (
Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ea ...
) in 1775, and documented that there were people who called themselves the "Harafora" living in the western end of New Guinea, in subordination to the "Papuas". He also reported their presence in Magindano ( Mindanao). The geographer
Conrad Malte-Brun Conrad Malte-Brun (12 August 177514 December 1826), born Malthe Conrad Bruun, and sometimes referred to simply as Malte-Brun, was a Dano- French geographer and journalist. His second son, Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun, was also a geographer. Today h ...
repeated Forrest's reports of a race of "Haraforas" in 1804, and added Borneo to the list of places this group inhabited. The ethnologist James C. Prichard described the Haraforas as head-hunters. John Coulter, in his account of a sojourn in the interior of southwest New Guinea in 1835, referred to the tribespeople there as the "Horrafora", and had the impression that Papuans and Horraforas were two distinct groups in New Guinea. AJ van der Aa's 1939 Toponymic Dictionary, recently rediscovered in the Dutch National Archives, offers this explanation for the name of the sea: "The inhabitants of the
Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ea ...
called themselves 'haraforas', translating 'Anak anak gunung' as 'children of the mountains'."


Fisheries

The Arafura Sea is a rich fishery resource, particularly for shrimp and demersal fish. Economically important species include
Barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, South ...
, grouper,
Penaeid Penaeidae is a family of marine crustaceans in the suborder Dendrobranchiata, which are often referred to as penaeid shrimp or penaeid prawns. The Penaeidae contain many species of economic importance, such as the tiger prawn, whiteleg shrimp, ...
shrimp, and Nemipteridae fishes, among others. At a time when many marine ecosystems and fish stocks around the world are diminished or collapsing, the Arafura Sea stands out as among the richest marine fisheries on Earth. However, the natural resources of the Arafura have been under increased pressure from
illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...
activities. The Arafura and Timor Seas Expert Forum (ATSEF) was established in 2002 to promote the economically and environmentally sustainable management of those seas.


See also

*
Alfur people Alfur, Alfurs, Alfuros, Alfures, Aliforoes, Alifuru or Horaforas (in Dutch, ''Alfoeren'') people is a broad term recorded at the time of the Portuguese seaborne empire to refer all the non-Muslim, non-Christian peoples living in inaccessible are ...
*
Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of . At the 2011 Census the Regency had a po ...
*
Asmat people The Asmat are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. The Asmat inhabit a region on the island's southwestern coast bordering the Arafura Sea, with lands totaling approximately 18,000 km2 (7,336&nb ...
* Makassan contact with Australia


References

{{Authority control Coastline of the Northern Territory Seas of Indonesia Australia–Indonesia border