Marine Protected Areas
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Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005
Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve lies about 840 kilometres west of Darwin. Cartier Island Marine Reserve is approximately 46 kilometres to the southeast of Ashmore. Together, the Reserves cover an area of 750 square kilometres.
The management plans for the reserves assign both reserves to IUCN (World Conservation Union) category 1a – strict nature reserve. A small section of Ashmore Reserve is managed as IUCN category II – national park.
The reserves are managed to maintain ecological processes and systems and to protect the habitats and biodiversity of the reserves from the pressures associated with human use.