Ningaloo Coast

Ningaloo Coast © Commonwealth of Australia, January 2010

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under theCopyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth, available from the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Published by: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2061

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Commonwealth of Australia

Ningaloo Coast: World Heritage nomination

I Australia. Dept. of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

ISBN 978-1-921733-03-1

Designed by 2B Advertising and Design

All images © Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (and associated photographers) unless noted.

Front cover image: Photograph Tony Howard © Western Australian Department of the Environment and Conservation Ningaloo Coast ❱ F R O M R e ef T O R a nge

Table of Contents

Ex ecutive Summary IV

Key terms VII

PART 1 IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY 1 1.A Country 2 1.B State, province or region 2 1.C Name of property 2 1.D Geographical coordinates 2 1.E Maps and plans, showing the boundaries of the property 3 1.F Area of nominated property 12

PART 2 DESCRIPTION 13 2.A Description of property 14 2.B History and development 44

PART 3 JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION 53 3.A Criteria under which inscription is proposed (and justification for inscription under these criteria) 54 Criterion (vii) 56 Criterion (viii) 64 Criterion (x) 71 3.B Proposed statement of outstanding universal value 80 3.C Comparative analysis (including state of conservation of similar properties) 81 3.D Integrity 109

PART 4 STATE OF CONSERVATION AND FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROPERT Y 117 4.A Present state of conservation 118 4.B Factors affecting the property 120 Development pressures 121 Environmental pressures 125 Natural disasters and risk preparedness 127 Visitor/tourism pressures 127 Number of inhabitants 131

I P Art 5 PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPERTY 133 5.A Ownership 135 5.B Protective designation 136 5.C Means of implementing protective measures 143 5.D Existing plans related to municipality and region 147 5.E Property management plan or other management system 152 5.F Sources and levels of finance 157 5.G Sources of expertise and training in conservation and management techniques 159 5.H Visitor facilities and statistics 160 5.I Policies and programs related to the presentation and promotion of the property 162 5.J Staffing levels 164

PART 6 MONITORING 167 6.A Key indicators for measuring state of conservation 169 6.B Administrative arrangements for monitoring property 172 6.C Results of previous reporting exercises 174

PART 7 DOCUMENTATION 181 7.A Photographs, slides, image inventory and authorisation table and other audiovisual materials 182 7.B Texts relating to protective designation, copies of property management plans or documented management systems and extracts of other plans relevant to the property 184 Legislation 184 Management Plans 184 Species-specific conservation plans 184 Other relevant Documents 184 7.C Form and date of most recent records or inventory of property 185 7.D Address where inventory, records and archives are held 185 7.E Bibliography 185

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P Art 8 CONTACT INFORMATION OF RESPONSIBLE AUTHORITIES 203 8.A Preparer 204 8.B Official local institution/agency 204 8.C Other local institutions 205 8.D Official web address 205

PART 9 SIGNATURE ON BEHALF OF THE STATE PARTY 207

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 209

APPENDICES 211 A Protected Species lists 212 B Stygofauna of Cape Range 215 C Troglobitic fauna of Cape Range 223 D Current marine research at the Ningaloo Coast 229

III Eeutivx c e Summary Exclusions: • North West Cape Area A

S tate Party • Shire of Exmouth sand pit • Coral Bay town area, and Australia • Cardabia, Warroora, Quobba and Gnaraloo Homesteads. State, Province or Region

Western Australia A4 (or "letter") size map of the nominated property, showing boundaries and buffer zone (if present) Name of Property See Map 1 Ningaloo Coast

Justification: Statement of Outstanding Geographical coordinates to the nearest Universal Value second The Ningaloo Coast tells an extraordinary story of 22° 33' 45.4896"S, 113° 48' 37.3176" E biogeography, climate change, the assembling of continents and the opening of oceans, biological Textual description of the boundary of the richness and environmental conservation. It is one nominated property of the best places to encounter the remarkable whale shark, the world’s largest fish, which aggregates here 708,350ha, in the mid‑west coast of Western Australia, in higher numbers than have been recorded anywhere being: (1) a coastal strip extending from North West else. Its dramatic setting and rich biology reveal a long Cape about 260km south-south-west to Red Bluff, and record of continental change, isolation and evolution. (2) adjacent marine areas, reefs and islands. The area The property has outstanding biological diversity, generally comprises: and plays an internationally significant role in the • Ningaloo Marine Park (Commonwealth Waters) protection of marine species. All of these features are extremely well preserved—the management of the • Ningaloo Marine Park (State Waters) Ningaloo Coast demonstrates some of the world’s • Muiron Islands Marine Management Area (including best practice in tropical marine, terrestrial and karst the Muiron Islands) management. The juxtaposition of deep ocean and one • Jurabi Coastal Park of the world’s largest nearshore reefs with an arid and ancient continental shore is at the heart of the property’s • Bundegi Coastal Park geological, biological and aesthetic value. • Cape Range National Park • Learmonth Air Weapons Range • Northern and western parts of Vacant Crown Land west of Learmonth town • North-west part of Exmouth Pastoral Lease • Northern part and western coastal strip of Ningaloo Pastoral Lease • Western coastal strips of Cardabia, Warroora and Gnaraloo Pastoral Leases, and • North-west coastal strip on Quobba Pastoral Lease.

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Criteria under which property is nominated

The Ningaloo Coast is nominated to the World Heritage List under criteria (vii), (viii) and (x) for containing: • superlative natural phenomena and areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; • outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features, and • the most important and significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Name and contact information of official local agency

Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia

Tel: +61 (0)2 6274 1111

Fax: +61 (0)2 6274 2095 (Heritage Division)

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.environment.gov.au

V Map 1: Boundaries of the nominated property

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Ke m y Ter s

Anchialine a land locked body of water with a subterranean connection to the ocean. The water in an anchialine system is stratified, with fresh or brackish water overlying saline. This intrudes from the coast at depth, or via rainfall, and percolates through the porous rocks, usually of limestone or recently–formed volcanics.

Barrier reef an organic reef complex roughly parallel to the shore and separated from it by a lagoon of variable depth and width. It may enclose a volcanic island (either wholly or in part), or it may lie a variable distance from a continental coast (such as the Great Barrier Reef off the coast ofQ ueensland, Australia). Generally, barrier reefs follow the coast for long distances, often with short interruptions, termed passes or channels. Large barrier reef complexes like the Great Barrier Reef include fringing reefs, patch and platform reefs, bomboras, atolls and other coral formations.

Biogeography the study of factors affecting biological distribution over space and time. These include changes in geology, oceanography and climate.

Endemism natural restriction of a plant or animal to a particular region.

Fringing reef an organic reef that is attached to or borders the shore of an island or continent, having a rough, tablelike surface that may be exposed at low tide. The width of a fringing reef can vary from a few metres to more than one kilometre. Its seaward edge slopes sharply down to the sea floor. There may be a shallow channel or lagoon between the reef and the adjacent mainland. It may be structurally and biologically identical to a barrier reef, distinguished only by the size or absence of an intervening channel.

Geoecological a landscape feature or system resulting from complex interactions of biotic and abiotic structure processes through time; for example a living coral reef and limestone karst system.

Gondwana a Palaeozoic supercontinent comprising South America, southern Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Antarctica. During the late Triassic period, this giant landmass formed part of the supercontinent Pangaea. Gondwana became isolated again when Pangaea broke apart during the Jurassic period. Gondwana itself gradually broke apart during the rest of the Mesozoic era, until Australia finally drifted north from Antarctica in the middle Cenozoic era (Figure 2.2).

Karst landscape and features formed by the chemical solution of rock, most commonly limestone and other carbonate rich rocks. Karst landscapes are characterised by closed depressions, subterranean drainage, characteristic solution forms and caves.

Pandemism global or very widespread geographic distribution of a plant or animal.

Phylogeny the evolutionary history and line of descent of a group of organisms; the study or history of such relationships.

Refugia areas that have maintained a relatively stable environment over time so that relictual communities of plants and/or animals have survived, and often evolved into taxonomically distinct species.

VI I Remipede a class of blind, colourless crustacean found in anchialine systems. Remipedes are only known from a handful of sites in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, and a single species, Lasionectes exelyi, found in the Ningaloo Coast’s Bundera Sinkhole. The global distribution of remipedes can help explain the movement of continents and the opening of oceans over tens of millions of years.

Rhincodon typus scientific name for the whale shark, the world's largest fish. The whale shark is the only living member of its genus and of the family Rhincodontidae.

Stygofauna troglobite fauna that live entirely aquatic lives in caves, aquifers and other groundwater habitats.

Troglobite fauna living permanently underground and generally beyond the daylight zone of a cave.

Troglofauna a general term for all cave fauna; any creature having a cave-dwelling mode of life.

Vicariance the separation of a group of organisms by a geographic barrier, resulting in differentiation of the original group into new varieties or species.

VIII