parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...
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Parks Victoria Technical Series No. 79<br />
Flinders and Twofold Shelf Bioregions Marine Natural Values Study<br />
2.2 Ninety Mile Beach MNP - Twofold Shelf Bioregion<br />
Ninety Mile Beach Marine National Park (Figure 13) is one of three MNPs in the Twofold<br />
Shelf Bioregion, which also contains Point Hicks and Cape Howe. Beware Reef Marine<br />
Sanctuary is the other Marine Protected Area in the bioregion. Ninety Mile Beach MNP is<br />
approximately 260 km east of Melbourne, 40 km south of Sale, and immediately south-west<br />
of the small town of Seaspray. It extends offshore for approximately five kilometres (three<br />
nautical miles) to the limit of Victorian waters from the high water mark along 5 km of<br />
coastline (Figure 14). Ninety Mile Beach MNP is relatively inaccessible from the land, except<br />
through private property, but is readily accessible by boat from Seaspray. It includes areas<br />
between the high and low water mark that were formerly part of McLoughlins Beach –<br />
Seaspray Coastal Reserve, reserved under the Crown Lands (Reserves) Act 1978 (Vic.).<br />
Ninety Mile Beach MNP protects approximately 4 % of the Ninety Mile Beach coastline<br />
(Parks Victoria 2006e). Lake Denison, on the coast adjacent to the MNP is regionally<br />
geologically significant as an example of lake, barrier, bluff and lagoon channel e<strong>vol</strong>ution<br />
(Figure 14). McGaurans Beach, Merriman Creek and near Seaspray are also recognised as<br />
geologically significant.<br />
Aboriginal tradition indicates that the Ninety Mile Beach MNP is part of the Country of the<br />
Gunai/Kurnai people (Parks Victoria 2006d).<br />
Important <strong>natural</strong> <strong>values</strong> of Ninety Mile Beach MNP are its soft sediment habitat both<br />
intertidal and subtidal, and its water column that provides habitat for a diversity of <strong>marine</strong><br />
flora and fauna species, including sessile invertebrates, algae, fish and transient whales<br />
(Parks Victoria 2006e). The MNP has extensive subtidal sandy sediments. Clumps of<br />
ascidians (mainly Pyura australis) occur on the sand (ECC 2000). Subtidal low calcarenite<br />
rocky reefs may occur along Ninety Mile Beach but preliminary mapping has not located the<br />
reefs within the MNP, although they may have been covered by sand (ECC 2000; Carey et<br />
al. 2007b; Edmunds et al. 2010a). Reefs in the area are dominated by invertebrates (70%<br />
coverage) and have sparse floral communities of small red algae (ECC 2000). Invertebrates<br />
include sponges, ascidians, and smaller bryozoans and hydroids (ECC 2000; Carey et al.<br />
2007b).<br />
A large endemic southern Australian seastar Coscinasterias muricata occurs along this<br />
coast in large numbers as well as an unusual soft coral Pseudogorgia godeffroyi (ECC<br />
2000). Aggregations of juvenile white shark Carcharodon carcharias, snapper Pagrus<br />
auratus, Australian salmon Arripis sp., long-finned pike Dinolestes lewini and short-finned<br />
pike Sphyraena novaehollandiae occur in the MNP (ECC 2000).<br />
Ninety Mile Beach MNP provides important feeding and roosting habitat for several<br />
threatened bird species such as the great knot Calidris tenuiros, fairy tern Sternula nereis<br />
and little egret Egretta garzetta, which are listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee<br />
(FFG) Act (1998) and as endangered in Victoria. The MNP protects feeding areas for the<br />
fairy prion Pachyptila turtur which is of national environmental significance under the<br />
Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act (1999)<br />
and twenty species that are listed under the Japan–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement<br />
(JAMBA) and the China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA, Parks Victoria<br />
2006e). The threatened southern right whale Eubalaena australis and New Zealand fur seal<br />
Arctophoca forsteri use the MNP waters. Although not recorded, the leatherback turtle<br />
Dermochelys coriacea probably also occurs in the MNP. One species of crab, Halicarcinus<br />
sp MoV746 is presumed to be endemic to the MNP. No <strong>marine</strong> flora or fauna are believed to<br />
be at their distributional limits within the MNP.<br />
Serious threats to the Ninety Mile Beach MNP include limited ecological knowledge of<br />
important processes. Human disturbance of shorebirds, invasive <strong>marine</strong> pests; benthic<br />
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