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We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the sovereign Traditional Owners of Australia and thank them for their stewardship of this Country, its lands, waters and skies. We respectfully acknowledge their culture and customary practices, and pay respect to their Ancestors, Elders and future leaders.

For the first time, the State of the Environment report includes a strong Indigenous narrative across all 12 thematic chapters, a narrative crafted through recognising the leadership, collaboration and authorship of Indigenous Australians who continue their connection as Traditional Owners to their lands, waters and skies.

Click to view the State of the Environment report

 

On 28 March 2025 the government assumed a Caretaker role. Information on websites maintained by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions until after the conclusion of the caretaker period.

Due to technical issues, graphs, maps and tables are currently not displaying within the main content, however, are available via the chapter resources navigation bar. We are working on a solution to resolve the issue.

Graphs, maps and tables

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Figure 1 Australia’s marine regions
Figure 2 Where marine habitats and communities occur
Figure 3 Water column productivity: (left) concentration of chlorophyll-a; (middle) zooplankton biomass; (right) larval fish abundance from IMOS National Reference Stations
Series of graphs showing that, given the natural variation in the quantities, they have not changed a great deal in recent years.

C = carbon; mg/m3 = milligram per cubic metre

Note: Black dots represent data points, and the lines (and shading) represent the linear regression (and confidence intervals) of the data after the seasonal cycle has been removed. Colours show the direction and statistical significance of the trend (blue = decreasing; red = increasing; black = no statistically significant trend).

Source: Data from the Integrated Marine Observing System

For more information, go toMarine habitats and communities
Figure 4 Changes in coral reef cover at various sites in Western Australia in relation to site-specific exposure to damaging waves (blue dots) and heat stress (red areas), since 1990
Series of graphs showing that heat stress on reefs is becoming more common, as is frequency of large waves. Changes in reef cover are variable, but have done down in the last 10 years more often than up.

DHW = degree heating weeks; m =metre; SE =standard error

Notes:

  1. For Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Ningaloo Reef, open and closed circles represent 2 separate monitoring programs.
  2. SE bars give an indication of the variability of the underlying measurements.
  3. See Figure 5 for a national summary.

Source: Reproduced from Gilmour et al. (2019). Reprinted by permission from Springer Nature Coral Reefs The state of Western Australia’s coral reefs, Gilmour JP, Cook KL, Ryan NM, Puotinen ML, Green RH, Shedrawi G et al. (2019), advance online publication, 4 April 2019 (doi: 10.1038/sj. CORAL REEFS.)

For more information, go toMarine habitats and communities
Figure 5 Changes in the cover of live coral and large canopy-forming seaweeds (labelled collectively in the figure as ‘kelp’) at national monitoring locations surveyed as part of the Reef Life Survey, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration programs
Series of graphs illustrating trends in kelp and coral coverage around the Australian coast. Coral has fallen on the North Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, and increased on the south barrier reef. Kelp has fallen around Tasmnaia and Victoria and incr

GBR = Great Barrier Reef

Note: Percentages of coral and kelp represent the sum of all live hard corals and canopy-forming seaweeds (including laminarian kelps and fucoid seaweeds), respectively. Differences between the 2011–15 average and the 2016–20 average (periods represented by the 2 grey-shaded blocks in the panels) are expressed as change per year on the map. (See Stuart-Smith et al. (2021a) for additional detail and description of methods.)

For more information, go toMarine habitats and communities
Figure 6 Trends in the RFTI, an indicator of biodiversity responses to ocean warming at national monitoring locations surveyed as part of the Reef Life Survey, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration programs
A series of graphs showing that the index is positive on the southern west coast and the mid-Queensland coast, but generally negative elsewhere, indicating increasing numbers of fish that prefer warmer waters. This is especially pronounced in the south-ea

GBR = Great Barrier Reef; RFTI = Reef Fish Thermal Index

Note: Increases in this index reflect changing community composition with increasing local abundance of reef fish that prefer warmer temperatures, whereas decreases reflect increasing species that prefer cooler temperatures. The values can be interpreted as the typical temperature preference for fish surveyed (measured in °C). Differences between the 2011–15 average and the 2016–20 average (the periods represented by the 2 grey-shaded blocks in the individual trend plots) are expressed as change per year on the map. (See Stuart-Smith et al. (2021c) for additional detail and description of methods.)

For more information, go toMarine habitats and communities
Figure 7 Trends in the biomass of large fishes (20+ cm) at long-term reef biodiversity monitoring locations around Australia surveyed as part of the Reef Life Survey, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration programs
A series of graphs showing that the fish biomass has improved in more places than it has decayed.

cm = centimetre; GBR = Great Barrier Reef; kg/m2 = kilogram per square metre

Note: Values are log-transformed kilograms per 50 m × 10 m patch of reef. Separate trends are shown for sites monitored inside marine protected areas with no-take regulations (red lines) versus areas with some or all fishing allowed (orange lines). Differences between the 2011–15 average and the 2016–20 average (the periods represented by the 2 grey-shaded blocks in the individual trend plots) are expressed as change per year on the map. (See Stuart-Smith et al. (2021c) for additional detail and description of methods.)

For more information, go toMarine habitats and communities
Figure 8 LPI, relative to 2008, for reef fishes and invertebrates in temperate and tropical Australia
Figure 9 Marine canyons and seamounts in Australian waters
Figure 10 Examples of deep-sea corals and sponges from >250 m. First row: (left) stony coral – Solenosmilia variabilis, (middle and right)  black corals. Second row: (left) Alcyonacea octocoral, (middle) octoral, (right) seapen. Third row: (left 3 photos) demosponges, (right 2 photos) glass sponges