The New South Wales Mooring Sub-Facility is part of the Australian National Mooring Network.
This sub-facility is establishing a transect of moorings and measurements off Sydney, which includes the Port Hacking (Sydney) National Reference Station (NRS). Like the NRS sites at Maria and Rottnest Islands, data has been collected for over 70 years at Port Hacking. The transect consists of three moorings in 65, 100 and 140m of water off Bondi and a mooring in 100m at the Port Hacking NRS, where monthly biogeochemical water sampling is conducted. This region is typically downstream of where the East Australian Current (EAC) separates from the coast, and is often influenced by EAC eddies. Data collection supports research on the marine ecosystems associated with these eddies and, as the sub-facility is located in the most densely populated area of Australia, issues such as water quality, waste disposal, shipping hazards, harmful algal blooms and recreation are also of particular research interest.
The sub-facility has also deployed two moorings across the shelf at Coffs Harbour in the north of NSW, and a pair of moorings at the Bateman's Marine Park, off Narooma in the south. These moorings will enhance the ANMN coverage along the coast of south-eastern Australia and also provide long term monitoring of the continental shelf region both upstream and downstream of the EAC separation point.