CON'T
Kimbe Bay pulses with life: its coral reefs hold more than half of all species on Earth, a rainbow jungle that more than 900 reef fish species call home. Kimbe Bay is located in the Bismarck Sea, a key area in the global center of marine biodiversity. The Coral Triangle (also designated as a Hope Spot) and Kimbe Bay lie almost centrally within this. Its marine life is remarkable: Kimbe Bay possesses 4 critically endangered, 11 endangered and 173 vulnerable species. These include the Largetooth Sawfish (Pristis pristis), Pondicherry Shark (Carcharhinus hemiodon), Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), Scalloped Hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) and Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis).
Kimbe Bay’s secret to its richly healthy marine ecosystem is its complex and diverse bathymetry (the measurement of depth of water in oceans, seas or lakes). A narrow coastal shelf fringes the coastline of the bay, descending to oceanic depths of over 1,000m. Along this coastline, fringing nearshore emergent reefs are neighbors to seagrass beds, mangroves and river estuaries forming multiple land-sea interfaces.
42