Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary, located in Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...

 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) south east of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, is 115 hectares in size, stretching 500 metres out to sea between Table Rock Point in Beaumaris

Beaumaris, Victoria

Beaumaris is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Beaumaris had a population of 12,441....

 and Quiet Corner in Black Rock

Black Rock, Victoria

Black Rock is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 18 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Black Rock had a population of 5796.-History:...

.

The declaration of Ricketts Point as a marine sanctuary was a significant environmental achievement. The battle to win the Sanctuary began as early as 1986. However, it was June 2002, over fifteen years later, after much controversy, that Victorian State Government legislation was finally passed protecting the area.

The underwater interest at Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary is considerable. Sandstone rock platforms extend from the shore, supporting a great diversity of flora and fauna. There are secluded caverns and under-rock ledges hosting colourful sponge gardens. Fifty-one species of fish have been identified in the Sanctuary, the most common being southern hulafish, zebra fish, dusky morwong

Morwong

Morwongs are perciform fishes comprising the family Cheilodactylidae. Most of the almost 30 species are found in temperate and subtropical oceans in the Southern Hemisphere, but three are restricted to northwest Pacific off Japan and China, and C. vittatus is restricted to Hawaii...

s, moonlighters and Australian sweep. The Sanctuary is also home to smaller and less mobile animals including abalone

Abalone

Abalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...

, winkles, sea urchin

Sea urchin

Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...

s, brittle star

Brittle star

Brittle stars or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea closely related to starfish. They crawl across the seafloor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to in length on the largest specimens...

s, sea star

Sea star

Starfish or sea stars are echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. The names "starfish" and "sea star" essentially refer to members of the class Asteroidea...

s and crab

Crab

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...

s. Crucial to this rich marine eco-system are the algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

, seaweeds and seagrass meadows which provide a beautiful palette of verdant green, red and brown.

The traditional aboriginal

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 owners and protectors of the area were the Bunurong

Bunurong

The Bunurong are Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who occupy South-Central Victoria, Australia. Prior to European settlement, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, sustainably on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers, for tens of thousands of years...

s who numbered around 300 when Beaumaris and Black Rock were being developed by white settlers. However by 1877, the tribe had been decimated through dispossession and disease. More recently, the Ricketts Point Marine Care group have formed and act as conservation watchdogs for the Sanctuary. Monitoring biodiversity is one of the important activities of the group. The first convenor of the Ricketts Point Marine Care group, Bob Whiteway, was instrumental in the nomination and proclamation of the Sanctuary and he continues his active role in the environmental management of the area.