Coasts and Marine

Bays, Inlets, Estuaries and Lakes

Numerous bays, inlets and estuaries occur along the Victorian coast. The four largest are Port Phillip Bay (1950 square kilometres) Western Port (680 square kilometres) Corner Inlet/Nooramunga (510 square kilometres) and the Gippsland Lakes (400 square kilometres). Small estuaries, of less than one square kilometre in area, are also common, such as those in East Gippsland and along the Otway coast.

	Port Phillip Bay One of Victoria's most popular recreational destinations, Port Phillip Bay is home to one of the world's most beautiful and diverse underwater environments.
	Western Port Bay Western Port Bay is home to a diverse range of invertebrates including colonial ascidians, sponges and corals and contains extensive areas of saltmarsh/mangrove and seagrass communities.
	Gippsland Lakes The Gippsland Lakes are a system of coastal lagoons that covers some 400 square kilometres.
	Corner Inlet Corner Inlet is the most southerly marine embayment and tidal mudflat system of mainland Australia located 260 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
	Victorian Estuaries Network The Victorian Estuaries Network (VEN) has been set-up to link estuary management and research in Victoria.