parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...

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Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 79 Flinders and Twofold Shelf Bioregions Marine Natural Values Study impact and recovery assessment for the Port Phillip Heads Channel Deepening Project. Five sites within Wilsons Promontory MNP, West Kanowna Is, Roaring Meg East, Southeast Landing, Church Rocks and Waterloo Bay North were surveyed in 2002 and again 2009 with the exception of Kanowna Is (Edmunds et al. 2009). Two more surveys are scheduled in 2013 and 2019. Other ongoing research in Wilsons Promontory MNP include research being conducted by John Arnolds Deakin University research team focussing on the ecology of fur seal and seabird species on islands around Wilsons Promontory, in particular, Kanowna Island. Research includes the response of fur seal colonies to boats, the feeding ecology of fur seals, little penguins and other seabirds. Statewide, the Museum of Victoria is collecting additional data on the marine natural values of Victoria’s MPAs. They are gathering information about natural history through video and photos (Figure 12), and using semi-quantitative methods to determine spatial and temporal changes across the system in response to threats, including marine pests and climate change. Jan Carey, University of Melbourne, is conducting research focussing on marine pest species which may impact on park values, and the MPAs which are most at risk of invasion. This will help prioritise Parks Victoria surveillance monitoring efforts to MPAs where there is greatest potential for successful management. 2.1.7 KNOWLEDGE GAPS Only a very small proportion of Wilsons Promontory MNP has been mapped for detailed bathymetry or substrates. No modelling of the habitats has been done so there is not an understanding of the distribution and extent of basic habitats within the MNP. No new surveys exist for the ecological communities of sandy beaches, intertidal soft sediments, with little new data on fish abundances, distributions or interactions except in shallow subtidal reef habitats. No information exists at present for water column assemblages. Major threats have been identified for Wilsons Promontory MNP but we have limited knowledge of the effect on the natural values, particularly ecological communities. Figure 12. Red Velvetfish Gnathanacanthus goetzeei in Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park. Photo by Mark Norman, Museum of Victoria. 31
Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 79 Flinders and Twofold Shelf Bioregions Marine Natural Values Study 2.2 Ninety Mile Beach MNP - Twofold Shelf Bioregion Ninety Mile Beach Marine National Park (Figure 13) is one of three MNPs in the Twofold Shelf Bioregion, which also contains Point Hicks and Cape Howe. Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary is the other Marine Protected Area in the bioregion. Ninety Mile Beach MNP is approximately 260 km east of Melbourne, 40 km south of Sale, and immediately south-west of the small town of Seaspray. It extends offshore for approximately five kilometres (three nautical miles) to the limit of Victorian waters from the high water mark along 5 km of coastline (Figure 14). Ninety Mile Beach MNP is relatively inaccessible from the land, except through private property, but is readily accessible by boat from Seaspray. It includes areas between the high and low water mark that were formerly part of McLoughlins Beach – Seaspray Coastal Reserve, reserved under the Crown Lands (Reserves) Act 1978 (Vic.). Ninety Mile Beach MNP protects approximately 4 % of the Ninety Mile Beach coastline (Parks Victoria 2006e). Lake Denison, on the coast adjacent to the MNP is regionally geologically significant as an example of lake, barrier, bluff and lagoon channel evolution (Figure 14). McGaurans Beach, Merriman Creek and near Seaspray are also recognised as geologically significant. Aboriginal tradition indicates that the Ninety Mile Beach MNP is part of the Country of the Gunai/Kurnai people (Parks Victoria 2006d). Important natural values of Ninety Mile Beach MNP are its soft sediment habitat both intertidal and subtidal, and its water column that provides habitat for a diversity of marine flora and fauna species, including sessile invertebrates, algae, fish and transient whales (Parks Victoria 2006e). The MNP has extensive subtidal sandy sediments. Clumps of ascidians (mainly Pyura australis) occur on the sand (ECC 2000). Subtidal low calcarenite rocky reefs may occur along Ninety Mile Beach but preliminary mapping has not located the reefs within the MNP, although they may have been covered by sand (ECC 2000; Carey et al. 2007b; Edmunds et al. 2010a). Reefs in the area are dominated by invertebrates (70% coverage) and have sparse floral communities of small red algae (ECC 2000). Invertebrates include sponges, ascidians, and smaller bryozoans and hydroids (ECC 2000; Carey et al. 2007b). A large endemic southern Australian seastar Coscinasterias muricata occurs along this coast in large numbers as well as an unusual soft coral Pseudogorgia godeffroyi (ECC 2000). Aggregations of juvenile white shark Carcharodon carcharias, snapper Pagrus auratus, Australian salmon Arripis sp., long-finned pike Dinolestes lewini and short-finned pike Sphyraena novaehollandiae occur in the MNP (ECC 2000). Ninety Mile Beach MNP provides important feeding and roosting habitat for several threatened bird species such as the great knot Calidris tenuiros, fairy tern Sternula nereis and little egret Egretta garzetta, which are listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee (FFG) Act (1998) and as endangered in Victoria. The MNP protects feeding areas for the fairy prion Pachyptila turtur which is of national environmental significance under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (1999) and twenty species that are listed under the Japan–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (JAMBA) and the China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA, Parks Victoria 2006e). The threatened southern right whale Eubalaena australis and New Zealand fur seal Arctophoca forsteri use the MNP waters. Although not recorded, the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea probably also occurs in the MNP. One species of crab, Halicarcinus sp MoV746 is presumed to be endemic to the MNP. No marine flora or fauna are believed to be at their distributional limits within the MNP. Serious threats to the Ninety Mile Beach MNP include limited ecological knowledge of important processes. Human disturbance of shorebirds, invasive marine pests; benthic 32
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4 Appendix 1 Compilation of species
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Biotic group Family Species Common
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Parks Victoria is responsible for m
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