Download Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary

Marine Natural Values Study Summary
Beware Reef
Marine Sanctuary
Australia’s southern waters are
unique. Ninety per cent of our
marine plants and animals are
found nowhere else on earth.
The system of Marine National
Parks and Sanctuaries has
been established to represent
the diversity of Victoria’s
marine environment, its
habitats and associated
flora and fauna.
Victoria’s marine environment
has been classified into five
bioregions according to
a nationally agreed scheme
based on physical and
biological attributes.
Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary
is the only marine sanctuary
in the Twofold Shelf bioregion,
which also includes three
marine national parks, and
completely encapsulates
Beware Reef.
Image left:
Eastern red sea fan Mopsella sp. Photo taken by Friends
of Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary.
Image right:
Female herring cale Odax cyanomelas. Photo taken
by Friends of Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary.
Description
The sanctuary covers 220 hectares,
and is around 5 kilometres south
east of Cape Conran and around
2.6 kilometres offshore from the
Cape Conran Coastal Park.
Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary is
accessible by boat from the West
Cape ramp at Cape Conran.
Parks Victoria acknowledges the
Aboriginal Traditional Owners of
Victoria – including its parks and
reserves. Indigenous tradition indicates
that the sanctuary is part of Country
of Bidwell and Country of Gunai/
Kurnai. The Monero-Ngarigo people
and Moogji Aboriginal Council people
also have an association with the
coastal region of this area.
Physical Parameters and Processes
The sanctuary is influenced by the
warm East Australian Current, cooler
Bass Strait waters and frequent cool
productive upwelling at the edge of
the continental shelf. Surface water
temperatures vary between an
average 18.5°C in the summer and
13.5°C in the winter. Tidal variation
is 0.9 metres for spring tides and
0.6 metres for neap tides. The
geology of the sanctuary is granite.
No estuaries or intermittent creeks
run directly into the park as it is an
isolated offshore reef.
In addition to Beware Reef itself,
three steamship wrecks, the Auckland,
Ridge Park and Albert San are also
important recreational diving sites
in the sanctuary.
Marine Habitat Distribution
and Ecological Communities
The main habitats protected by the
sanctuary include subtidal soft
sediments, intertidal and subtidal reef,
and the water column. Most of the
subtidal area of the sanctuary is
deeper than 20 metres.
The shallow (< 10 metres) subtidal
reef is home to stands of canopy
forming algae such as bull kelp
Durvillaea potatorum and crayweed
Phyllospora comosa, with a lesser
contribution by the common kelp
Ecklonia radiata. Red algaedominates
the understorey and includes
Rhodymenia wilsonii, R. linearis
and Plocamium dilatatum.
The subtidal reef invertebrate
assemblage includes a large number
of the feather star Cenolia trichoptera,
and high densities of the black sea
urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii and
blacklip abalone Haliotis rubra.
Common fish found on the subtidal
reef are blue throated wrasse
Notolabrus tetricus and purple wrasse
N. fucicola. Other fish species include
the Maori wrasse Ophthalmolepis
lineolata, one-spot puller Chromis
hypsilepis, white-ear damselfish Parma
microlepis, toothbrush leather jacket
Acanthaluteres vittiger and large
aggregations of butterfly perch
Caesioperca lepidoptera.
A small intertidal granite reef area
is present which is wave-swept
in high seas. Thick stands of bull kelp
Durvillaea potatorum dominate the
lower intertidal reef, with coralline
algae and fleshy green and brown
algae occurring elsewhere. The
cunjevoi Pyura stolonifera is the
dominant invertebrate on the
intertidal reef. Large barnacles and
mussels cover much of the rock,
while other areas are bare.
Subtidal soft sediments are extensive.
No biological surveys have been
undertaken of this community within
the sanctuary to date, but it probably
supports numerous polychaetes,
isopods, gastropods, euphausiids,
ophiuroids, bivalves, amphipods,
cumaceans and cephalopods.
Surveys of nearby areas have revealed
a number of common fish and shark
species likely to inhabit the sanctuary.
Examples include sparsely spotted
stingaree Urolophus paucimaculatus,
gurnard Lepidotrigla spp., flathead
Finger sponge, feather stars, zoanthids and butterfly perch
Caesioperca lepidoptera on subtidal reef. Photo by Mark
Norman, Museum Victoria.
Platycephalus spp., common gurnard
perch Neosebastes scorpaenoides.
Numerous shark species were also
found in the survey including swell
shark Cephaloscyllium laticeps, angel
shark Squatina australis, and Port
Jackson shark Heterodontus
portusjacksoni. Newborn pups of
gummy sharks inhabit shallow inshore
areas and there is evidence to suggest
that the inshore sandy areas east of
Wilson Promontory may be important
feeding areas for gummy shark pups.
The water column is home to a variety
of planktonic and pelagic organisms.
Those that make their permanent
home in the water column include
sea jellies, salps, many fish, and
phytoplankton and zooplankton.
A number of marine mammals,
reptiles and seabirds are also found
in or use the water column.
Species and Communities
of Conservation Significance
The sanctuary provides important
feeding habitat for several threatened
bird species such as the shy albatross
Thalassarche cauta and wandering
albatross Diomedea exulans.
The threatened southern right whale
Eubalaena australis, humpback whale
Megaptera novaeangliae, southern
elephant seal Mirounga leonina and
New Zealand fur seal Arctophoca
forsteri use the waters in the
sanctuary. New Zealand fur seals and
Australian fur seals Arctocephalus
pusillus doriferus use the intertidal
reef as a haul-out site for much
of the year.
The killer whale Orcinus orca,
bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus
and common dolphin Delphinus
delphis have been observed in the
waters in and around the sanctuary.
Seventeen species of marine flora
and fauna are believed to be at their
eastern or western distributional limits
within the sanctuary.
Major Threats
Measures to address or minimise
threats identified for Beware Reef
Marine Sanctuary form part of the
park management plan. Parks Victoria
also uses an adaptive management
approach which includes periodic
reviews of priority natural values
and threats through processes such
as the State of the Parks evaluation
and setting of desired conservation
outcomes. Through these processes
Parks Victoria has identified emerging
threats and developed appropriate
management responses.
Serious threats for Beware Reef
marine sanctuary include invasive
marine pests from commercial and
recreational boats, anchor damage,
poaching of abalone and increased
sediments from catchment runoff.
The introduced New Zealand seastar
Astrostole scabra has been reported in
the sanctuary, while the New Zealand
screw shell Maoricolpus roseus has
been recorded within the Point Hicks
and Cape Howe Marine National Parks
and there are concerns about possible
spread to the sanctuary.
Climate change also poses a serious
medium to long term threat to natural
values. Parks Victoria will use an
adaptive management approach to
develop responses and actions that
focus on priority climate change issues
such as extreme weather events and
existing risks likely to be exacerbated
by climate change.
There are already some signs of
climate change related effects in
eastern Victoria, including Beware
Reef Marine Sanctuary, with the black
spined urchin Centrostephanus
rodgersii expanding its range from
NSW with a strengthening of the East
Australian Current. This species forms
urchin barrens (devoid of macroalgae)
when it reaches high densities and
significantly reduces biodiversity
of subtidal reefs.
Research and Monitoring
Parks Victoria has established
extensive marine research and
monitoring programs that address
important management challenges
for the marine national parks and
sanctuaries. These focus on improving
baseline knowledge, as well as applied
management questions.
Since the establishment of the
parks in 2002 our knowledge and
understanding of natural values and
threats for the system have improved
significantly through the marine
science program. Much of the
research has been undertaken
as part of the Research Partners
Program involving collaboration
with various research institutions.
While recognising there are still
knowledge gaps Parks Victoria will
continue to focus on addressing
information needs that will
assist management.
For more information, including
marine habitat mapping products,
please see the full versions of the
Marine Natural Values reports
on www.parks.vic.gov.au.
There are five ongoing research
projects and one habitat mapping
project that are relevant to Beware
Reef Marine Sanctuary, while eight
research projects and one habitat
mapping project have already been
completed. The sanctuary has an
ongoing subtidal reef monitoring
program in addition to high quality
community monitoring by Reef
Life Survey.
Green moray eel Gymnothorax prasinus.
Photo taken by Friends of Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary.
Parks Victoria
Phone 13 1963
www.parks.vic.gov.au