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Marine Protected Areas
Elizabeth Reef - Reef Flat, Mark Hallam.
Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs are the peaks of volcanic seamounts. There are more than 20 such peaks in the Tasman Sea, but few rise above sea level. At high tide, when the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs are almost totally submerged, they appear as only rings of white breakers, except for a small sand cay at Elizabeth Reef.
The variety of ecosystems within the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park are not represented in any other marine protected areas. The reefs are the most southerly coral atolls in the world and their isolated, oceanic environment has led to the development of plant and animal communities that are unique within Australian waters.
307 species of fish are known to occur on the reefs and with further research the number is expected to reach 450 species. At least ten species found in a study by the Australian Museum in 1987 were previously unknown to science. Two-thirds of the fish species recorded are widely distributed while the remainder is restricted to the southern or south-western Pacific Ocean.
Although before the reefs became a marine park reef fish were harvested for commercial and recreational purposes, present fish populations have returned to those thought to have occurred on the NSW coast 30 to 40 years ago.
Remote oceanic reefs like these are particularly prone to pressure from even low levels of fishing as their isolation means that fish populations are unlikely to be replenished from distant reefs. The reefs are important scientific reference areas with which to compare those marine areas elsewhere subject to high degrees of human influence.
The reefs are among the last few remaining strongholds of the black cod, Epinephelus daemelli. Once common along the New South Wales (NSW) coast, the black cod is now extremely rare and is protected under Commonwealth and NSW legislation. Though rarely seen, the black cod is widely distributed throughout most habitats at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs. The reefs are also the southernmost limit to the range of the Queensland Groper.
Elizabeth Reef - Aerial View, Mark Hallam.
The reefs are a vital resting and feeding area for migratory marine species including turtles and several seabirds listed on the Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement and China-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement.
Green turtles are relatively common around the reefs. There is no land suitable for nesting in the Reserve but the area is important as a feeding ground.
Many coral species uncommon in other reef locations are abundant at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs. 122 species of coral have been found on the Reefs, far less than the 550 species on the Great Barrier Reef. However the variety of corals is greater here than on the fringing reefs of Lord Howe Island where only 57 species are known.
Little was known about the echinoderms of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs before an Australian Museum study in 1987. At least 74 species are now known with the most prominent of these being the crown-of-thorns starfish which feeds on live corals and poses a significant threat to the ecosystem.
Over 120 species of crustaceans (including crabs, lobsters and barnacles) have been found, but the total number of species in the Reserve is likely to be around 500.
Of the 266 species of molluscs (including squids, octopuses, cuttlefish and shellfish) recorded to date, nine occur nowhere else but in the region of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Park, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. The Reserve also contains three species of molluscs previously unknown to science.