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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