The Ashmore Reef Marine Park (formerly known as the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve) is an

Australian marine park Australian marine parks (formerly Commonwealth marine reserves) are marine protected areas located within Australian waters and are managed by the Australian government. These waters generally extend from three nautical miles off the coast to the ...

that covers the Ashmore Reef, which is located about north of Broome and south of the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n island of

Rote Rote can refer to: People *Jason Butler Rote, American TV writer *Kyle Rote (1928–2002), American football player and father of: *Kyle Rote, Jr. (born 1950), American soccer player *Ryan Rote (born 1982), baseball pitcher *Tobin Rote (1928–200 ...

. The marine park covers an area of and is assigned IUCN category Ia. It is one of 13 parks managed under the North-west Marine Parks Network. The Ashmore Reef Marine Park is within an area known as the

MOU Box The MOU Box, or sometimes the MOU 74 Box, refers to a rectangular tract of marine waters in the Timor Sea, lying within Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone, that is subject to a 1974 memorandum of understanding (MoU), and subsequent agreements, ...

, a region that permits for continued

n traditional fishing and access.

Conservation values

The Ashmore Reef is of significant

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

value as it is in the flow of the

Indonesian Throughflow The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF; ) is an ocean current with importance for global climate as is the low-latitude movement of warm, relative freshwater from the north Indopacific, Pacific to the Indian Ocean. It thus serves as a main upper branch ...

ocean current from the Pacific Ocean through Maritime Southeast Asia to the Indian Ocean. It is also in a surface current west from the Arafura Sea and Timor Sea. In 2003 the nature reserve was recognised as a wetland of international importance due to the importance of its islands providing a resting place for migratory shorebirds and supporting large seabird breeding colonies. It was designated Ramsar Site 1220 under the

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

Species and habitat

*The marine park comprises several marine habitats, including

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s, intertidal sand flats, coral reef flats, and lagoons, and supports an important and diverse range of species, including 14 species of

sea snake Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are elapid snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes Australasian terrestrial snakes, wher ...

s, a population of dugong that may be genetically distinct, a diverse marine invertebrate fauna, and many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

species, especially of sea snakes and

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s. There are feeding and nesting sites for loggerhead, hawksbill and green turtles. *It is classified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

and has 50,000 breeding pairs of various kinds of

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s. *A high abundance and diversity of

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...

s, over-exploited on other reefs in the region, is present, with 45 species recorded. *Support some of the most important seabird rookeries on the North West Shelf including colonies of

bridled tern The bridled tern (''Onychoprion anaethetus'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus comes from ' meaning "claw" or "nail", and , meaning "saw". The specific ...

common noddies The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

brown boobies The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brow ...

eastern reef egret The Pacific reef heron (''Egretta sacra''), also known as the eastern reef heron or eastern reef egret, is a species of heron found throughout southern Asia and Oceania. It occurs in two colour morphs with either slaty grey or pure white plumag ...

frigatebird Frigatebirds are a family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, ''Fregata''. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked ...

s, tropicbirds,

red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are f ...

roseate tern The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDoug ...

crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World ...

s and

lesser crested tern The lesser crested tern (''Thalasseus bengalensis'')Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005)A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. ''Molecular Ph ...

s. *Important staging points/feeding areas for many migratory seabirds.

Bioregion, ecology and heritage

*Ecosystems, habitats and communities associated with the North West Shelf and Timor Province provincial bioregions, and emergent oceanic reefs. *Indonesian artefacts. *Indonesian grave sites.

History

The marine park was originally proclaimed under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 on 16 August 1983 as the Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve. It was proclaimed under the EPBC Act on 14 December 2013 as a Commonwealth Marine Reserve and renamed Ashmore Reef Marine Park on 9 October 2017.

Summary of protection zones

The Ashmore Reef Marine Park has been assigned

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

Ia. However, within the marine park there are two protection zones, each zone has an IUCN category and related rules for managing activities to ensure the protection of marine habitats and species. The following table is a summary of the zoning rules within the Ashmore Reef Marine Park:

References

External links

*
North-west Marine Parks Network - Parks Australia

North-west Marine Parks Network - environment.gov.au (outdated)
{{Protected areas managed by the Australian Government , state=collapsed Australian marine parks Ashmore and Cartier Islands