Bremer Marine Park

The Bremer Marine Park area is a protected South-West Marine park extending out from Bremer Bay. It is located on the South-West Coast of Australia between Albany and Esperance at 34°45’ South and 119°50’ East. It occupies approximately and reaches depths of 5900m. It is zoned by the Australian government under the ‘South West Marine Parks Management plan 2018’ as a national park and hence protects numerous of flora and fauna. This flora and fauna (specifically killer whales and orca) are the primary contributing factor to the area's popularity and tourism which brings economic and social benefits. However, the area is also subject to many threats to biodiversity and hence has management systems and legislations in place in an attempt to protect its environment, flora and fauna. Overall Bremer Marine Park is primarily an area of biodiversity enjoyed by tourists and studied by scientists.
Marine life.
Environment, flora and fauna.
The environment plays a key role in the activities, behaviours, survival and interactions of flora and fauna in Bremer Bay Marine Park.
The geomorphological construction of Bremer influences the currents, water movements and upwelling events. Bremer Bay contains many different interacting water currents which are highly significant to the survival of flora and fauna in Bremer Marine Park. For example, The Leeuwin Current transports warmer tropical water across the south west coast of Australia. This raises the water temperature in Bremer. Currents also lead to the presence and transport of tropical marine life. For example, the Leeuwin current is significant to the transport and survival of Southern bluefin Tuna,  Western Australia Salmon, Humpback whales and many species of coral.  
In conjunction with other water currents and the geomorphology of the marine park, ‘Eddies' are formed. Eddies are circular water currents which contribute to upwelling. Upwelling leads to deep water rising and interacting with shallow surface water. In the Bremer bay region, this leads to an increase in nutrients (predominantly chlorophyll) and hence biological productivity in surface waters. This increase in nutrients and biological productivity influences the migration and abundance of marine life.
This abundance of marine life is evident in the variety of species found in the area. Numerous species of fish live in the Bremer area including Southern Bluefin Tuna, Salmon, Blue Groper and Herring. There are also various sharks found in Bremer such as the Whaler and Great White Shark. Additionally, there are also many invertebrate species in the area including squid, crustaceans (such as the blue swimmer crab) and jellyfish. Seabirds are also prevalent and include Shearwater and Petrel species as well as the Albatross. Finally, mammals in the area include Striped, Bottlenose and Common Dolphins, and Killer and Blue Whales.
Food webs.
The interrelationship between organisms was investigated by the University of Western Australia and the Australian government. The defining features of the ecosystems food web include the apex predator being the killer whale (orca), the keystone species being the squid and krill and the main primary producer being phytoplankton.
Threats to biodiversity.
Climate change and global warming.
Climate change is defined as the long term change in weather patterns allowing for earth’s climate to change . Evidence for the earths cycle between hothouse and icehouse climates can be found using sedimentation and greenhouse gas data . Global Warming is the scientific theory that humans are raising the earth’s temperature primarily through increasingly burning fossil fuels causing the earth to trap greenhouse gases which raises the earth’s temperature . 
Both climate change and global warming would further cause ocean; temperature levels, acidity and greenhouse gas levels to rise. In turn, this would cause many of the existing flora and fauna to perish or migrate elsewhere. For example, scientists predict that global warming will decrease the abundance of phytoplankton (a keystone species in the Bremer Marine Park food web) in oceans . 
However, some individuals dispute the existence of global warming. The main argument is due to the belief that humans are not impacting temperature, and the temperature increase is only resultant from the natural cycle of earth’s climate between hothouse and icehouse periods . This opinion is less popular among the scientific community due to the compelling evidence against it. 
Management.
Management plan.
The Australian Marine parks South-west Network Management plan acts to preserve Bremer Bay's ecosystems and maintain its biodiversity in accordance with Cultural, Heritage Socio-economic and Natural values. Bremer Bay Marine park is listed as an IUCN category II national park and was proclaimed under EPBC Act. The IUCN protects two areas in the Marine park being the national park and special purpose zone. Both the IUCN and EPBC Act contribute to the protection of the environment and biodiversity in Bremer Marine Park.
Natural values.
Bremer Bay contains two key ecological features being the ‘Albany Canyon group and adjacent shelf break’, and the ‘Ancient Coastline at 90-120 metres depth contour’. The Albany Canyon group and adjacent shelf break includes Bremer Canyon which hosts many species of marine life. This is most likely due to upwelling events in the Canyon. Upwelling in the canyon is evidenced by higher levels of chlorophyll found in surface water. This is a possible indicator that nutrients have been upwelled to the surface. Higher concentrations of chlorophyll often lead to higher levels of productivity in oceans. This provides reasoning for the abundance of marine life in Bremer Bay Canyons.
The Ancient Coastline contains terraces and steps due to changes in sea level. The most prevalent steps and terraces can form large escarpments which can induce small upwelling events, which as previously mentioned cause higher abundance of marine life.
The Bremer Marine Park also contains two significant bioregions forming parts of the Southern province and South west shelf province. The South West Shelf Province is an area significantly impacted by the Leeuwin current. This area is hence a diverse area for organisms as mentioned in the environment, flora and fauna section. The Southern province is populated by numerous deep submarine canyons reaching depths of approximately 5900m.
Species and habitats are also highly significant to Bremer Bay and are mentioned above in the Environment, Flora and Fauna section.
Heritage values.
The heritage values for individuals and communities is found in socioeconomic and communal activities. For example, activities including fishing and, whale and shark watching and all contribute to heritage value. However, Bremer Marine Park has no official heritage listings.
Social and economic values.
Economic values are predominantly in tourism activities, commercial fishing and mining. In terms of social activities, tourism offers snorkelling, fishing, whale watching and more wildlife orientated activities.
Cultural values.
The indigenous community has been sustainably using the South Australian land and sea for between 40,000 and 100,000 years. In Bremer Marine park the Noongar people are responsible for the ‘Sea Country’. Sea Country includes all aspects of the area and is described by the government as including; ‘all living things, beliefs, values, creation, spirits and cultural obligations connected to that area.’ The Sea Country is valuable to the area and should be respected to all individuals. Many marine species are also ‘totems’ for indigenous people and are hence valuable and require protection.
Hence, cultural values are superintended by the Noongar people and the South west Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.
Tourism.
Tourism in Bremer Marine Park is due to its abundance of marine life and geological structures as previously mentioned. Orca are the primary attraction for tourists. This is because The Bremer Canyon Region hosts nearly 200 Orca making it largest known congregation point for Orca in the southern hemisphere . 
Exploration.
Marine scientists have been conducting research on megafauna in this region for over a decade.
In late January 2020, RV Falkor of the Schmidt Ocean Institute started an undersea exploration of the Bremer canyon, over a 32-day period.