What sea is northeast of Queensland?

The Coral Sea lies north-east of Queensland, between the Australian coast and the islands of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. It is part of the Pacific Ocean and contains the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system, stretching about 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast.

The Coral Sea is best known internationally for the Battle of the Coral Sea, fought 4 to 8 May 1942, when American and Australian naval forces stopped a Japanese fleet from advancing on Port Moresby in Papua. It was the first naval battle in history fought entirely between aircraft launched from carriers, with no surface ship of either side firing on the other. The battle is commemorated jointly by Australia and the United States and is widely cited as the moment Japan's southward advance was first halted.

Australia administers the Coral Sea Islands Territory, an external territory of about 30 widely scattered low-lying reefs and cays covering some 780,000 square kilometres of ocean. The territory has no permanent residents, only a rotating staff at the Willis Island weather station maintained by the Bureau of Meteorology since 1921.

In 2018 the Australian government declared the Coral Sea Marine Park, covering 989,842 square kilometres of ocean adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The two parks together protect one of the largest contiguous marine conservation areas in the world. The Coral Sea is home to a wide variety of marine life including whales, sharks, tuna, billfish, and the seabirds that nest on the cays. Recreational and commercial fishing remain regulated to balance conservation with the long-standing tropical fishing industry of Cairns and the Whitsundays.