Nomination of Macquarie Island by the Government of Australia For
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NOMINATION OF MACQUARIE ISLAND BY THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST Prepared by DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, SPORT AND TERRITORIES in association with PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TASMANIA 1996 CONTENTS page 1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY ............................................................................................. 2 2. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION .................................................................................................. 4 a. Statement of Significance .............................................................................................................. 5 b. Comparative analysis ..................................................................................................................... 5 c. Authenticity/Integrity ..................................................................................................................... 8 d. Criteria under which inscription is proposed ............................................................................... 10 3. DESCRIPTION ..................................................................................................................................... 14 a. Description of Property ............................................................................................................... 14 a.1 Geology ....................................................................................................................................... 14 a.2 Geomorphology ........................................................................................................................... 20 a.3 Natural history ............................................................................................................................. 21 b. History and Development ............................................................................................................ 23 c. Form and date of most recent records of site ............................................................................... 24 d. Present state of conservation ....................................................................................................... 24 4. MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 27 a. Ownership .................................................................................................................................... 27 b. Legal Status ................................................................................................................................. 27 c. Protective measures and means of implementing them................................................................ 27 d. Agency/agencies with management authority .............................................................................. 28 e. Level at which management is exercised and name and address of responsible person for contact purposes .................................................................................................................................................... 28 f. Agreed plans related to property ................................................................................................. 30 g. Sources and levels of finance....................................................................................................... 30 h. Sources of expertise and training in conservation and management techniques .......................... 30 i. Visitor facilities and statistics ...................................................................................................... 31 j. Site management plan and statement of objectives (annex) ......................................................... 31 k. Staffing levels (professional, technical & maintenance) .............................................................. 32 5. FACTORS AFFECTING THE SITE ..................................................................................................... 34 a. Development Pressures ................................................................................................................ 34 b. Environmental Pressures (e.g. pollution, climate change) ........................................................... 34 ii c. Natural disasters and preparedness .............................................................................................. 34 d. Visitor/tourism pressures ............................................................................................................. 36 e. Number of inhabitants within site, buffer zone ............................................................................ 36 f. Other ............................................................................................................................................ 36 6. MONITORING / INSPECTION ............................................................................................................ 38 a. Key indicators for measuring state of conservation ..................................................................... 38 b. Administrative arrangements for monitoring property................................................................. 38 c. Results of previous reporting exercises ....................................................................................... 38 7. DOCUMENTATION ............................................................................................................................. 40 a. Photographs, slides and, where available, film/video .................................................................. 40 b. Copies of site management plans ................................................................................................. 40 c. Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 40 d. Address where inventory, records and archives are held ............................................................. 40 8. SIGNATURE ON BEHALF OF THE STATE PARTY ........................................................................ 41 APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................................................ 43 APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................................................ 46 APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................................................ 48 APPENDIX D ........................................................................................................................................ 50 APPENDIX E ........................................................................................................................................ 73 APPENDIX F ........................................................................................................................................ 79 APPENDIX G ........................................................................................................................................ 82 iii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A - Definitions of the Subantarctic Province and adjacent Cold Temperate and Maritime Antarctic Provinces Appendix B - Geological time scale Appendix C - Characteristics of ophiolites Appendix D - Biota of Macquarie Island Table D.1 Vascular plants recorded from Macquarie Island Table D.2 Checklist of Mammals of Macquarie Island Table D.3 Birds of Macquarie Island Appendix E - Biological status and conservation measures Appendix F - Conservation related legislation relevant to Macquarie Island Appendix G - Bibliography LIST OF FIGURES Figure l - Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, showing the location of Macquarie Island, subantarctic islands and the Antarctic Convergence. (page 1) Figure 2 - A diagrammatic section through Macquarie Island type oceanic lithosphere. (page 22) Source: Griffin and Varne (1980) Figure 3 - Generalised bathymetry of the Macquarie Ridge complex, showing seismicity (after Jones & McCue 1988) and vectors of relative plate motion of the Australian and Pacific plates in centimetres per year (after Minster & Jordan 1978). A-A' is the location of the gravity profile along which the crustal structure was defined (Williamson 1988). (page 26) iv Nomination for World Heritage Listing: Macquarie Island 1 Nomination for World Heritage Listing: Macquarie Island 1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY a. Country (and State Party) AUSTRALIA b. State, Province or Region STATE OF TASMANIA c. Name of Property MACQUARIE ISLAND d. Exact location on map and identification of geographical coordinates to the nearest second The property nominated as Macquarie Island (including the adjacent islets, rocks, reefs and 12 nautical mile wide surrounding marine area is located between latitude 54° 08' 30” S and 55° 18’ 00” S and between longitude 158° 23' 00” E to 159° 07' 30” E. e. Maps and/or plans showing boundary of area proposed for inscription and of any buffer zone. A map showing the boundary of the nominated property is enclosed with this nomination. f. Area of site proposed for inscription (ha.) and proposed buffer zone (ha.) if any. The land area within the nomination (the Macquarie Island Nature Reserve) is 12,785 hectares. The total area of the nomination is 540,000 hectares (or 5,400 square kilometres). There is no buffer zone. 2 Nomination