Exmouth Gulf

The Exmouth Gulf (English: Exmouth Gulf ) is a Gulf in the northwest of Australia in the state of Western Australia. The Gulf is located on the North West Cape on the main coastline of Western Australia.

Name

Already in 1618, came Captain Lenaert Jacobszoon of the Dutch East India Company and the supercargo Willem Janszoon came into this area and in 1818 Phillip Parker King in the Gulf and named the North West Cape Peninsula as well as the Exmouth Gulf after a British Viscount.

Environment

The Exmouth Gulf leads a rich marine environment, in which the birth places of humpback whale, dugong and turtle are. The mangrove system in the east and the Ningaloo Reef in the Gulf make good conditions for optimal environmental and living conditions of the animal world.

When it was planned to build a salt production along the southwest coastline, there were violent protests by Australian environmentalists. The plans for this extended over an area of 411 km ² with a length of 70 km and 10 km inland from the coast. These plans were abandoned in February 2010 due to the strong ongoing public resistance.

In the Gulf and in the coastal waters, except at Ningaloo Reef, sport fish such as marlin, Spanish mackerel ( Scomberomorus commerson ) and tuna fish can be fished. In the Gulf is the largest crab fishery in Australia, the Kailis Fishing Group, which is licensed by the Australian Government of Western Australia at the moment.

The Gulf is part of the North West Shelf and the Canningbeckens, a geological sedimentary basins.

During World War II the U.S. Navy for operation on Australian soil in Exmounth golf a submarine supply station, the airport Learmont far from Exmouth and radar equipment. On May 20 and 21, 1942, there were Japanese air attacks on military installations.