The Bass Strait Shelf Province is a

biogeographic Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

region of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's coastal and

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

waters. It covers the central

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

between

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

and the southern Australian mainland. It is a provincial level bioregion in the

Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA), formerly the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia, is a biogeographic regionalisation of the oceanic waters of Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ ...

(IMCRA) system."A Guide to the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia Version 4.0". Department of Environment and Heritage, Government of Australia. June 2006. ISBN 0 642 552274. The Bassian and adjacent Tasmanian Shelf provinces correspond to the Bassian

marine ecoregion A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeographic characteristics. Introduction A more complete definition describes them as “Areas of relatively homogeneous species ...

in the WWF's Marine Ecoregions of the World system.

Geography

The Bass Strait Shelf Province covers the central Bass Strait, and the adjacent coasts of Tasmania and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. On the Victorian Coast it extends from east of

Cape Otway Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. The cape marks the boundary between the Southern Ocea ...

to Waratah Bay. It also includes the northern Tasmanian coast, from the northwestern tip of the island near

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

to Little Musselroe Bay, east of

Cape Portland Cape Portland, officially Luemerrernanner / Cape Portland, is both a geographical feature and a locality near the north-eastern tip of Tasmania, Australia. The cape points west across Ringarooma Bay, where the Ringarooma River empties into the ...

at the northeastern tip. On the west it excludes King Island, which belongs to the adjacent Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition bioregion, and to the east it excludes the

Furneaux Group The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of ...

of islands, which belong to the adjacent

Southeast Shelf Transition The Southeast Shelf Transition is a biogeographic region of Australia's coastal and continental shelf waters. It covers a portion of Australia's southeastern coast, from southern New South Wales to eastern Victoria, including the islands of the Ke ...

bioregion.

Ecology

The province is characterised by a small group of endemic species confined to Bass Strait and adjacent transitions. It is home to warm temperate species from the Central Eastern Shelf Province and Southwest Shelf Province, cool temperate species from the Tasmanian Shelf Province, and widespread southern temperate species. The bioregional endemics are a focus of national biodiversity conservation efforts.

Meso-scale bioregions

The province contains four meso-scale bioregions: * Victorian Embayments (VE) * Central Victoria (CV) * Central Bass Strait (CBS) * Boags (BGS)

References

{{reflist Biogeography of Victoria (state) Biogeography of Tasmania Ecoregions of Australia IMCRA provincial bioregions Temperate Australasia Coastline of Tasmania Coastline of Victoria (state)