Contents
This is a list of notable reefs.
This is a list of notable reefs.
| Name | image | Location | Coordinates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
  | Red Sea to Madagascar | 0°03′05″S50°50′46″E / 0.051377°S 50.846055°E | ||
| Amazon Reef | | Off the coast of French Guiana and northern Brazil | 1°N49°W / 1°N 49°W | The Amazon Reef (also referred to as the Amazonian Reef) is an extensive coral and sponge reef system, located off the coast of French Guiana and northern Brazil. It is one of the largest reef systems in the world known to exist, with scientists estimating its length to be over 600 miles (970 km) long, and covering over 3,600 square miles (9,300 km²) of area. [1] |
| Angria Bank | | Off the coast of Vijaydurg, Maharashtra, India | 16°26′N72°02′E / 16.43°N 72.03°E | |
| Apo Reef |  | Mindoro Strait, Philippines | 12°39′42″N120°24′52″E / 12.66167°N 120.4144°E | This is the Philippines' largest reef and the world's second-largest contiguous coral reef system. |
| Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park | | Cozumel, Mexico | 20°10′25″N87°00′46″W / 20.1737°N 87.0129°W | Part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System |
| Bar Reef | | Kalpitiya peninsula, Sri Lanka | 8°13′48″N79°26′24″E / 8.2300°N 79.4400°E | This coral reef has more biodiversity than in any of the waters of India. It is one of only a few pristine systems in Sri Lanka. |
| Belize Barrier Reef |  | Belize | 17°11′08″N87°19′26″W / 17.1856°N 87.324°W | This is the second biggest coral reef system on Earth, the largest being the Great Barrier Reef. It is approximately one third the size of the 900km long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. |
| Benares Shoals |  | Peros Banhos atoll, northern Chagos Archipelago | 5°09′S71°24′E / 5.15°S 071.40°E | |
| Blake Plateau reef |  | Southeastern United States | 31°N79°W / 31°N 79°W | |
| Bunaken National Marine Park | | North Sulawesi, Indonesia | 1°40′12″N124°45′00″E / 1.6700°N 124.7500°E | Bunaken National Park is renowned as one of the world’s best diving and snorkeling destinations. Approximately 97% of the park's area consists of sea, with more than 390 types of coral reefs decorating its seabed. The coral reefs in Bunaken are formed as part of the Indo-Pacific coral reef ecosystem, and are known as one of the highest marine biodiversity in the world. |
| Coral Triangle | Mainly Indonesia | 3°58′13″N134°49′10″E / 3.970166°N 134.819424°E | Called the "Amazon of the seas", this is a large area defined within a triangular area in the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. | |
| Daintree Reef | | Coral Sea, Queensland, Australia | 16°01′58″S145°26′06″E / 16.032856°S 145.434958°E | Named after geologist and photographer Richard Daintree, this system is adjacent to the Daintree Rainforest. |
| Darwin Mounds | | Off the northwest coast of Scotland | 59°27′N7°08′W / 59.45°N 7.13°W | Located around 1,000 m (3,280 feet) below the surface, this system consists of a big field of sand mounds. |
| Filippo Reef |  | 450 km east of Starbuck Island in the Pacific Ocean | 5°18′S151°30′W / 05.30°S 151.50°W | |
| Flinders Reef | | Off Moreton Island in the Coral Sea, Queensland, Australia | 26°59′18″S153°26′31.4″E / 26.98833°S 153.442056°E | |
| French Frigate Shoals |  | Northwestern Hawaiian Islands | 23°26′44″N166°50′46″W / 23.4456°N 166.846°W | This is a 32-kilometre (20 mi; 17 nmi) long, crescent-shaped reef maintained by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as a field station within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. |
| Great Barrier Reef |  | Coral Sea, Queensland, Australia [2] | 18°10′16″S147°25′12″E / 18.1710°S 147.4200°E | The largest in the world |
| Isla Pérez |  | Gulf of Mexico | 22°14′02″N89°25′12″W / 22.2340°N 89.4200°W | |
| Kingman Reef |  | North Pacific Ocean | 6°14′N162°15′W / 6.23°N 162.25°W | Roughly triangular in shape |
| Lansdowne Bank |  | Coral Sea | 20°21′S160°18′E / 20.35°S 160.30°E | This is one of the biggest banks on Earth. |
| Lyra Reef | | Papua New Guinea | 1°27′S153°12′E / 1.45°S 153.20°E | |
| Manuel Luis Reefs | | Brazil | 0°54′48″S44°19′10″W / 0.913302°S 44.319530°W | The largest coral reef of South America. [3] |
| Maro Reef |  | Northwestern Hawaiian Islands | 25°24′54″N170°35′24″W / 25.415°N 170.590°W | This reef is named after the ship Maro, captained by Captain Joseph Allen who discovered the reef in 1820. |
| Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System | | From the Yucatán Peninsula to Honduras | 18°20′38″N87°25′18″W / 18.343938°N 87.421764°W | Also known as the Great Mayan Reef or Great Maya Reef, this is a World Heritage Site. |
| Mexico Rocks | | Ambergris Caye, Belize | 18°03′01″N87°33′19″W / 18.05021°N 87.555174°W | This area consists mainly of boulder corals and comprises about 100 Holocene patch reefs in a cluster on a ridge made of Pleistocene limestone. |
| Miami Terrace Reef |  | Florida, United States | 25°27′N79°33′W / 25.45°N 79.55°W | This is a deep reef system that lies at 200 to 600 metres (656 to 1,969 ft) below sea level. |
| Minami-Tori-shima |  | Japan | 24°10′16″N153°35′06″E / 24.1712°N 153.5850°E | |
| Minerva Reefs |  | Fiji and Tonga | 23°23′S178°32′W / 23.38°S 178.54°W | |
| Miri-Sibuti Coral Reef National Park | | Sarawak, Malaysia | 4°11′N113°31′E / 4.19°N 113.51°E | This is a protected area and popular dive site. |
| Necker Island | | Northwestern Hawaiian Islands | 23°34′30″N164°42′01″W / 23.575°N 164.700278°W | Included within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The second-largest marine habitat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, totaling 385,000 acres (156,000 ha). Lacks a fringing reef but has a shallow reef, beyond which extend deep-water coral shelves for many miles. Habitat includes 16 species of stony coral and is the easternmost place in the Hawaiian Islands where table corals of the genus Acropora are found. |
| New Caledonia Barrier Reef |  | New Caledonia | 20°14′39″S164°20′09″E / 20.2443°S 164.3359°E | This is a double-barrier coral reef, and the second-longest on Earth, the longest being the Belize Barrier Reef. |
| Ningaloo Coast | | Western Australia | 22°20′04″S113°29′01″E / 22.3345°S 113.4837°E | A World Heritage Site, this reef is noted for whale sharks. |
| North East Reef |  | Western Australia | 28°15′05″S113°29′03″E / 28.2513°S 113.4841°E | |
| Osprey Reef |  | Coral Sea, Australia | 13°54′29″S146°36′55″E / 13.90806°S 146.61528°E | |
| Palancar Reef | | Cozumel, Mexico | 20°17′48″N87°01′06″W / 20.296685°N 87.018439°W | A popular diving location, this is part of the Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park. |
| Qixingyan (Taiwan) | | Pingtung County, Taiwan | 21°27′12″N120°29′34″E / 21.453198°N 120.492894°E | This is a shallow system with parts being visible at low tide. Many shipwrecks have occurred here. |
| Reunion Island's coral reef |  | Réunion | 21°05′06″S55°13′17″E / 21.0851°S 55.2214°E | Threatened in recent times by an increase in human exploitation as well as pollution |
| Røst Reef | | Lofoten, Norway | 67°29′02″N12°01′08″E / 67.483951°N 12.018849°E | This is the largest Lophelia reef known, and the biggest known deep-water coral reef system. |
| Scorpion Reef |  | Yucatán, Mexico | 22°13′33″N89°24′21″W / 22.2258°N 89.40578°W | This reef is part of the Campeche Bank archipelago. |
| Sha`b Abu Nuhas | | Northern Red Sea | 27°34′01″N33°55′01″E / 27.567°N 33.917°E | Considered a hazard to ships, this is a popular diving site. |
| South Sentinel Island | | Andaman Islands | 10°35′02″N92°07′54″E / 10.5840°N 92.1318°E | |
| Sula Reef | | Sør-Trøndelag, Norway | This reef is composed of Lophelia pertusa coral. | |
| Tubbataha Reef | | Sulu Sea, Philippines | 8°33′N119°33′E / 8.55°N 119.55°E | This reef system contains a very high density of different species and is designated a World Heritage Site. Tubbataha reef is the world's richest and most pristine reef. |
| Virgin Islands | | Caribbean Sea | 18°00′N65°00′W / 18.0°N 65.0°W | Scleractinian corals, Millepora. |
| Yabiji | | Ryukyu Islands | 25°00′00″N125°16′00″E / 25.0°N 125.266667°E | Reef grouop composed of about 300 kinds of corals. |
Cozumel is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán Channel. The municipality is part of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Puerto Galera, officially the Municipality of Puerto Galera, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,961 people.
An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote marine life, it may be intended to control erosion, protect coastal areas, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, support reef restoration, improve aquaculture, or enhance scuba diving and surfing. Early artificial reefs were built by the Persians and the Romans.
The Aliwal Shoal is a rocky reef which is the remains of an ancient sand dune approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The reef is inhabited by many kinds of hard and soft corals and other marine invertebrates, and a variety of tropical and subtropical fish species. Aliwal Shoal was named after the near-sinking in 1849 of the three-masted vessel Aliwal, captained by James Anderson. There are two wrecks near the reef that are popular recreational dive sites. The Norwegian bulk carrier MV Produce sank in 1974, and SS Nebo sank in 1884. Aliwal Shoal has diverse marine life, including large predators, and is popular as a recreational scuba diving destination. The Shoal is known especially for its abundance of Grey nurse sharks between July and November when the sharks congregate there to mate.
Tumon Bay is a bay in the United States territory of Guam, opening to the Philippine Sea. It is bounded to the north by Two Lovers Point and to the south by Ypao Point. The entirety of the bay falls within the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve, also known as the Tumon Bay Marine Preserve Area (MPA) and Tumon Preserve, one of five marine preserves on Guam. The Preserve measures 4.54 square kilometers and is roughly two miles long. The platform of the fringing reef that separates the open ocean from the lagoon is up to 1,450 feet (440 m) wide. and up to one mile from the shore. The bay is located off of the Tumon area, the tourist center of the island, in the village of Tamuning. The bay is extensively utilized for recreation and fishing.
Pescador Island is a small limestone island located in the Tañon Strait, a few kilometres from the western coast of the island of Cebu in the Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Moalboal.
Muck diving is recreational diving on a loose sedimentary bottom, usually in relatively low visibility. It gets its name from the sediment that lies on the bottom at many dive sites - a frequently muddy or "mucky" environment. Other than muddy sediment, the muck dive substrate may consist of dead coral skeletons, garbage and natural detritus. The visibility is usually less than on the reef or wreck sites of the area. However, the sediment and detritus environment has a different ecology to the reef, and the "muck" substrate can be the habitat for unusual, exotic and juvenile organisms that are not found in the cleaner reef sites of the region.
Sodwana Bay is a bay in South Africa on the KwaZulu Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi. It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination. The term is commonly used to refer to both the marine reserve and the terrestrial park, as well as the geographical bay.
Coral reef protection is the process of modifying human activities to avoid damage to healthy coral reefs and to help damaged reefs recover. The key strategies used in reef protection include defining measurable goals and introducing active management and community involvement to reduce stressors that damage reef health. One management technique is to create Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that directly limit human activities such as fishing.
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is a small archipelagic state in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) from the Asian continent's mainland. The chain of 26 atolls stretches across the Equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south. The land area is roughly 298 square kilometres. Malé is the capital.
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
Tourism is one of the major industries in the Great Barrier Reef region. Approximately 2.19 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef each year. According to the WWF, tourism of the area contributes $5.89 billion a year to the Australian economy, and employs approximately 69,000 people. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg sees the key competitive advantage of the Great Barrier Reef as opposed to other, closer, reef tourism destinations is the region's reputation as being "the most pristine coral reef on the planet". The GBRMPA states that careful management, which includes permits for camping and all commercial marine tourism within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, seeks to ensure that tourists have minimal impact on the reef. However, rising incidences of widespread coral bleaching, coastal development, and tourism impacts have taken a toll the biodiversity of the reef.
Diamond Reef System, including each individual Hover Station and the new Multi-Portal System, are trademarked, skill evaluation and safety-based diving curriculums that utilize the world's first portable, collapsible underwater obstacle course to simulate fragile reef or dive wreck structure for diver buoyancy skill and underwater photography training. A form of scuba Gymkhana, the program was designed by Pete Wallingford in 1988 to educate scuba instructors and scuba divers on how to safely teach and promote situational awareness, proper body positioning and safe interaction with coral reefs, fragile marine ecosystems and shipwrecks. The program was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, dive store operators and dive resort/charter operators worldwide.
The Parcel de Manuel Luís Marine State Park is a state park in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. It protects the Manuel Luis Reefs, an important coral reef of the south Atlantic. The reefs contain the wrecks of many ships.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental tourism.
The environmental impact of recreational diving is the effects of recreational scuba diving on the underwater environment, which is largely the effects of diving tourism on the marine environment. It is not uncommon for highly trafficked dive destinations to have more adverse effects with visible signs of diving's negative impacts due in large part to divers who have not been trained to sufficient competence in the skills required for the local environment, an inadequate pre-dive orientation, or lack of a basic understanding of biodiversity and the delicate balance of aquatic ecosystems. There may also be indirect positive effects as the environment is recognised by the local communities to be worth more in good condition than degraded by inappropriate use, and conservation efforts get support from dive communities who promote environmental awareness, and teach low impact diving and the importance of respecting marine life. There are also global coral reef monitoring networks in place which include local volunteer divers assisting in the collection of data for scientific monitoring of coral reef systems, which may eventually have a net positive impact on the environment.
Piti Bomb Holes Marine Preserve is a marine protected area comprising all of Piti Bay on the western coast of Guam, located off of the village of Piti in the Philippine Sea. The defining "bomb hole" features, named because they look like bomb craters in the reef flat, are actually natural percolation pits where fresh water filters into the shallow lagoon at a depth of 25 to 30 feet. The largest pit houses the commercial Fish Eye Marine Park tourist attraction, which includes a wooden pier to a underwater observatory and a Seawalker tour of the lagoon bottom. It is visited by more than 200,000 people annually. The Piti preserve is the most ecologically diverse of Guam's five marine preserves. The pit around Fish Eye is a popular snorkeling and recreational diving site.
