Where available, moorings help to minimise anchor damage to fragile environments.
- There are two types of moorings in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park:
- public moorings
- privately owned moorings
Public moorings
Public moorings are available to all Reef users and are installed at popular locations. Blue double cone-shaped buoys attached to the moorings have a colour-coded band explaining the class (vessel length), time limits and maximum wind strength limits applicable to the mooring.
Public mooring locations and their GPS coordinates are available to help you locate these moorings.
No-anchoring areas
No-anchoring areas protect coral reefs from anchor damage. A person must not drop an anchor for a vessel, aircraft or any other facility in a no-anchoring area.
The majority of no-anchoring areas are marked by white pyramid-shaped buoys with a blue label.
There are unmarked no-anchoring areas at Cod Hole and Lizard Island within the Cairns Planning Area and at Bait Reef and Hook Island within the Whitsunday Planning Area.
Please see the maps below for the locations of all no-anchoring areas (marked and unmarked) within the Marine Park.
Maps
- Cairns/Cooktown:
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas from Lizard Island to Innisfail
- Brochure — public moorings and anchoring in the Northern Great Barrier Reef — North Queensland's islands and reefs
- Townsville/Whitsunday:
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas from Mission Beach to Townsville
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas in the Whitsundays
- Hinchinbrook Plan of Management 2004 Schedule 6
- Brochure — Public moorings and anchoring in the Northern Great Barrier Reef — North Queensland's islands and reefs
- Brochure — Public moorings and anchoring in the Great Barrier Reef — Whitsundays guide
- Mackay/Capricorn:
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas offshore Mackay
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas in the Keppel Islands
- Overview map — public moorings and no-anchoring areas in the Capricorn Bunker Group and Coast
- Brochure — Public moorings and anchoring in the Great Barrier Reef — Mackay guide
- Brochure — Public moorings and anchoring in the southern Great Barrier Reef — Keppels and Capricorn Bunkers guide