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Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve and Cartier Island Marine Reserve

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Overview

Summary of Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve & Cartier Island Marine Reserve

Reserve	Ashmore	Cartier
Proclamation date	16 August 1983	21 June 2000
Size (current)	58,343 Ha (583 km2)	17,238 Ha (172 Km2)
IUCN category	Area Open to Public Access - IUCN Category II (3,300 Ha) Area Closed to Public Access - IUCN Category Ia (55,000 Ha)	IUCN Category Ia
Biogeographic context	IMCRA 4.0 provincial bioregion: Timor Province	IMCRA 4.0 provincial bioregion: Timor Province
Management plan status*	Second management plan expired 25 June 2009. Interim management arrangements from 26 June 2009.	First management plan expired 25 June 2009. Interim management arrangements from 26 June 2009.

^*A new management plan for the reserves will be developed at the completion of the bioregional planning process for the north-west marine region. Developing a management plan for the reserves at this time will provide greater efficiency and effectiveness in the management planning process, particularly in regard to stakeholder consultation. Following the declaration of any new Commonwealth reserves, stakeholders will be invited to comment on the development of the management plan for the region.

About the Reserves

Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve (Ashmore) is located on Australia's North-West Shelf in the Indian Ocean, about 450 nautical miles (840 km) west of Darwin, 330 nautical miles (610 km) north of Broome and 60 nautical miles (110 km) south of the Indonesian island of Roti. Ashmore covers 583 square kilometres and includes two extensive lagoons, shifting sand flats and cays, seagrass meadows, a large reef flat covering an area of 239 square kilometres. Within Ashmore are three small islands known as East, Middle and West Islands.

Cartier Island Marine Reserve (Cartier) is located 25 nautical miles (45 km) south-east of Ashmore Reef. Covering an area of 167 square kilometres, Cartier includes an unvegetated sand island (Cartier Island) and the area within a 4 nautical mile radius of the centre of the island, to a depth of 1km below the sea floor. The area around the island includes a variety of habitats including a mature reef flat, a small submerged pinnacle, known as Wave Governor Bank and two shallow pools to the north-east of the island.

Ashmore and Cartier support large numbers of marine species including sea snakes, dugongs, reef building corals, fish and other marine invertebrate fauna. The reserves also provide important seabird and marine turtle nesting sites and provide staging points and feeding areas for large populations of migratory shorebirds. Ashmore was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2003 due to the importance of its islands providing a resting place for migratory shorebirds and supporting large seabird breeding colonies.

History

Indonesian fishermen have visited and fished the north Western Australian coast, islands and reefs of this coastline since the early eighteenth century.

Traditional fishers had no navigational equipment and many set a course south from Indonesia using local land marks in search of new sources of marine resources. When some distance out to sea they sighted the greenish tinge of Ashmore Reef reflected in the clouds. At Ashmore they stopped to replenish their stocks of food and water and, in some cases, to bury their dead, before continuing south to other islands and reefs and to the west Australian coastline. Coconut palms around the well on West Island were planted by visiting Indonesian fishing crews to provide food and shade.

Traditional fishers collected a range of species including beche-de-mer (trepang or sea cucumber), various molluscs (particularly trochus shell), seabirds, seabird eggs, sharks, marine turtles and clams. Trochus shells are used in the manufacture of buttons and ornaments and dried beche-de-mer and sharkfin are sought after delicacies throughout much of Asia. These products are traded through Indonesia into the wider Asian market.

In November 1974, Australia and Indonesia entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which recognises the rights of access for traditional Indonesian fishers in a small area of Australian waters. Access to the area defined by the MoU, known as the MoU Box, was granted in recognition of Indonesia's long history of traditional fishing. Under the MoU, traditional Indonesian fishers are permitted to land on West Island to replenish their stores of fresh water, visit the graves of past fishers and to take shelter in the West Island lagoon.

The first recorded European sighting of Ashmore Reef was on 11 June 1811 by Captain Samuel Ashmore, Commander of the Hibernia. Captain Nash aboard the Hibernia is credited with discovering Cartier Island and the nearby Hibernia Reef was named after Captain Nash's vessel.

During the 1850's, American whaling ships operated in the region and during the latter half of the nineteenth century West Island was mined for its phosphate (guano) deposits.

The Ann Millicent, an iron hulled barge of 944 tons was wrecked on Cartier Island on 5 January 1888 on a voyage from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Adelaide. A wreck believed to be that of the Ann Millicent is visible at low tide on the southern edge of the island.

Cartier Island is a former air weapons range with active use of the area for Defence purposes dating back to the 1940s. During the Second World War a Royal Australian Air Force Beaufighter sustained damage during a conflict and set down on Cartier Island. Following the rescue of the crew, the Beaufighter was strafed by other aircraft and set alight. Some of its remnants are still present on the island.

Special features

The Terrestrial Environment

Ashmore has three small, vegetated islands (West, Middle and East Islands). The combined area of the islands is 112 hectares with the largest island being about one kilometre long. The plant communities on the islands are mainly shrubland and herb land with grass species found throughout. Growth varies significantly throughout the year, from the luxuriant growth of the wet season to the dry season when a layer of dead plant material covers much of the islands.

The Ashmore islands provide important nesting habitat for many species, including marine turtles and a number of seabirds and migratory shorebirds. The unvegetated island at Cartier supports large populations of nesting marine turtles.

Despite the small size of the islands, Ashmore supports some of the most important seabird rookeries on the North-west Shelf and is an important staging point for migratory wetland birds, especially waders. Seventy-eight species have been recorded at Ashmore. Of these, seventeen have been recorded breeding there. Thirty-five of the species that have been recorded at Ashmore are cited in international agreements between the Australian Government and the governments of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea concerning the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. Colonies of sooty terns and common noddies can number up to 50,000 breeding pairs. Also present in smaller breeding colonies are little egrets, eastern reef egrets, black noddies, lesser noddies, white-tailed tropicbirds and red-tailed tropicbirds.

The Marine Environment

The surface waters around Ashmore and Cartier are dominated by the Indonesian Throughflow ocean current and are therefore warm and generally low in nutrients. During winter, there is a strong south and westerly flow of surface waters. However during summer the Throughflow weakens and the Eastern Gyral Current may even result in a northward movement of surface water. Beneath the surface, cooler more nutrient rich waters are believed to be associated with the northward flowing West Australian Current. Mixing of water bodies is thought to occur in shelf break areas around the reef systems resulting in localised upwelling and enhanced nutrient availability.

The marine environment at Ashmore includes two extensive lagoons, mobile channelled carbonate sand flats, shifting sand cays and an extensive reef flat. Cartier has a mature reef flat with two shallow pools. The reef front at both Ashmore and Cartier has large numbers of many different types of robust hard and soft corals, gorgonians (e.g. sea fans), sponges and a range of encrusting organisms. The reef crests are generally algal dominated, while the reef flats feature ridges of coral rubble and large areas of seagrass that are important for dugong and sea snake species. The sand flat habitats support a range of species including feeding dugongs, turtles, stingrays, echinoderms (such as starfish), molluscs and crustaceans and migrating shorebirds. The lagoons at Ashmore support corals, sponges, burrowing shrimp and a range of holothurians (e.g. sea-cucumbers), echinoderms, molluscs (shellfish) and polychaetes (worms) on and beneath the sand.

Ashmore and Cartier have a high diversity of reef building and non-reef building corals. The 255 species of reef building corals have been identified at Ashmore is thought to be the greatest number of reef building species of any reef area off the West Australian coast. There are three species of mollusc which are only found at Ashmore (Amoria spenceriana, Cymbiola baili and Conus morrisoni). Recent research has indicated that the total number of fish species at Ashmore and Cartier may be as high as 650 species. The high density and diversity of fish is linked to the diversity of habitat types.

It is estimated that Ashmore and Cartier support approximately 11,000 marine turtles including significant populations of green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles. The Ashmore and Cartier population of green turtles is genetically distinct from the other two breeding populations in the region.

Ashmore also supports a small dugong population of less than 50 individuals. It is thought that this population is genetically distinct from other Australian populations and the extent to which this population interacts with Indonesian populations is unknown. It is possible that the population's range extends to Cartier and other submerged shoals in the region.

Historically Ashmore and Cartier have been recognised internationally for their high diversity and density of sea snakes. It is estimated that prior to 2000 there were 40,000 sea snakes from at least 13 species present at Ashmore, representing the greatest number of sea snake species recorded globally. Three of the species at Ashmore are endemic to Australia's north-west shelf, which means they aren't found anywhere else in the world. Recent research has shown a decline in sea snakes at Ashmore, with further research required to identify the cause of this decline.