Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

POINT COOK, Victoria

Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary is located in the north east corner of Port Phillip Bay, a mere 30 minute drive from Melbourne. The park protects 290ha of a typical Port Phillip western shoreline which makes it the largest park in Victoria’s system of marine national parks and sanctuaries. The park is largely protected from the hype of the suburbs by the coastal dunes and adjacent wetlands of the Point Cook Coastal Park and Cheetham Wetlands. Off the coast a series of basalt cliffs rise from the muddy seafloor, the remains of a larval flow that poured across the plains thousands of years ago.

A combination of narrow sandy beaches, rocky reefs and mud flats, this park hosts a huge diversity of marine and coastal life. The predominant alga on the reef is a thick brown alga, Ecklonia radiata. Within its fronds it houses countless tiny marine animals and plants. Prickly sea urchins are abundant near crevices, while the exposed sections of rock support a range of life including masses of tube worms, carpets of anemones and meadows of tufting coralline and filamentous algae. In darker corners, sponges grow plentifully. Small skates and sharks patrol the surrounding seagrass beds, feasting on bivalves lying in the sediments. These seagrass beds also act as a nursery for a variety of fish species. Pods of bottlenose dolphins visit the sanctuary and in summer, swarms of jellyfish pulsate over the reef.

Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary and the surrounding Point Cook Coastal Park and Cheetham Wetlands are protected as a Ramsar site. This means that the area has international significance due to its importance for migratory wader birds. The sanctuary provides a feeding are for many bird species including the Double-banded Plover and the Lesser Golden Plover.

Other parks within 40km of Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Herring Island

  23.4 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Westgate Park

  14.1 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park

  33.9 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Long Forest Flora and Fauna Reserve

  39.8 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Woodlands Historic Park

  25.5 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary

• Organ Pipes National Park

  23.4 km from Point Cook Marine Sanctuary