report prioritisation of high conservation status offshore islands 0809-1197 prepared for the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Revision History Revision Revision date Details Prepared by Reviewed by Approved by number Dr Louise A Shilton Principal Ecologist, Beth Kramer Ecosure Environmental Neil Taylor 00 13/07/09 Draft Report Dr Ray Pierce Scientist, Ecosure CEO, Ecosure Director, Eco Oceania Julie Whelan Environmental Dr Louise A Shilton Scientist, Ecosure Neil Taylor 01 19/08/2009 Final Report Principal Ecologist, Dr Ray Pierce CEO, Ecosure Ecosure Director, Eco Oceania Distribution List Copy Date type Issued to Name number 1 19/08/09 electronic DEWHA Dr Julie Quinn 2 19/08/09 electronic Ecosure Pty Ltd Dr Louise A Shilton 3 19/08/09 electronic Eco Oceania Pty Ltd Dr Ray Pierce Report compiled by Ecosure Pty Ltd. Please cite as: Ecosure (2009). Prioritisation of high conservation status of offshore islands. Report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Ecosure, Cairns, Queensland. Gold Coast Cairns Sydney PO Box 404 PO Box 1130 PO Box 880 West Burleigh Qld 4219 Cairns Qld 4870 Surrey Hills NSW 2010 P +61 7 5508 2046 P +61 7 4031 9599 P +61 2 9690 1295 F +61 7 5508 2544 F +61 7 4031 9388 [email protected] www.ecosure.com.au Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or compl eteness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. © Ecosure Proprietary Limited 2009 The information contained in this do cument produced by Ecosure P ty Ltd is solely for the use of th e Client identified on the cover sheet for the purpose for which it has been prepared and Ecosure Pty Ltd undert akes no du ty to or acce pts any re sponsibility to any t hird pa rty who may re ly upon this document. Table of Contents Table of Contents..............................................................................................................................................................iii Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................................... iv Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................................................... vi Glossary.............................................................................................................................................................................viii Nomenclature................................................................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................xii high conservation status – offshore islands ecosure.com.au iii Executive Summary The Aus tralian Go vernment Departmen t o f th e Enviro nment, Water, Heri tage & th e Arts (DEWHA) required an i ndependent nat ional assessment of t he c onservation v alue of Au stralia’s of fshore islands, and the speci fic v ertebrate pest mana gement i ssues on these i slands. A ustralia has approximately 8 300 o ffshore i slands, i ncluding small ro cks which are o ften asso ciated wi th l arger islands; too many fo r effective investment o f funds to secure b iodiversity v alues i nto t he future. A priority list of 100 islands of high conservation status is needed to help guide future government investment on offshore islands. This repo rt p resents o ur as sessment o f th e co nservation s tatus o f Aus tralia’s o ffshore islands. In collaboration wi th Dr Ra y Pi erce ( Eco Oceani a Ltd) we co nducted a detai led assessmen t o f ke y island bi odiversity, c omprising t hreatened speci es l isted under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and/or state/territory legislation, as well as listed EPBC Marine and/or Migratory species (Bonn, CAMBA, JAMBA and/or ROKAMBA). This ‘biodiversity value’ assessment was followed by an evaluation of the types a nd status of ver tebrate pests o n tho se islands (intrinsic feral ‘value’), supplemented by a matrix of species-specific impacts, island by island. For example, a non-climbing Red Fox will have a greater impact on small ground-dwelling mammals than it will on arboreal species. Herewithin we provide: · a priority list of 100 h igh conservation status i slands of at least 200 ha in area, i ndicating the top and lower 50 qualifying islands · a summary list of a dditional islands that were fully ev aluated, but did not make the priority 100 list · a sum mary list of sma ller islands (< 2 00 ha ) which we bel ieve should be exami ned mor e closely · profiles for the 100 priority islands, including their geographical context, additional ecological and e nvironmental v alues, management i ssues a nd o ur island s pecific recommended actions, and · overall recommendations to help guide future DEWHA investment. Our results represent the climatic, geographical, topographical, biological and ecologi cal diversity of Australia’s offshore islands. Priority islands (> 200 ha) occur in the oceans all around Australia, in all states and territories with coastline and offshore waters: · 26 are in Queensland · 23 are in Western Australia · 19 are in the Northern Territory · 15 are in Tasmania high conservation status – offshore islands ecosure.com.au iv · 11 are in Victoria · 5 are in South Australia, and · 1 is in NSW (Lord Howe Island). Priority islands ran ged i n area fro m 2 02 h a (Boodie I sland, WA) to 578 577 ha (Melville Isl and, NT) . Some are near the ma inland (e.g. Bribie and No rth Stradbr oke i slands, QLD ), and may ev en b e linked by sand spi ts at low t ides (e.g. D olphin Is land, WA ), others ar e ext remely r emote (e.g. Macquarie, TAS). Some islands qualified in the list based largely on the number and type of Migratory and/or Marine seabirds and/or shorebirds that ut ilise the islands for breeding (e.g. Phillip Island, VIC). Others have endangered small mammals that are at ri sk of extinction or already no longer occur on the mainland (e.g. Bernier and Dorre islands, WA and Groote Island, NT). Others still had significant biodiversity representation among b oth fauna and flo ra (e.g. Fraser Island, QLD and French Island, VIC). Detai led co nsideration o f small er islands (< 200 h a) may yield a di fferent di stribution of h igh conservation status i slands. However, any i sland assessment i s limited by the av ailable data. Many islands are little surveyed, and others that are well surveyed do not have easily accessible data. Worldwide, offshore islands provide unique ecosystems and presen t the opportunity for protecting species that may be driven to extinction on mainlands where feral pests ar e much more difficult to eradicate. Australi a’s i slands are no exception, and t heir po tential i mportance f or s afeguarding Australia’s native biodiversity ca nnot be overstated. Vertebrate pests are one of the most pressing challenges placing refugial island biodiversity at risk. Many commendable pest management plans have already been implemented on islands (e.g. Lord Howe Island, NSW and Macquarie Island, TAS), and feral pests have been eradicated from some (e.g. islands in the Dampier Archipelago, WA), but many, if not all, are in need of additional resources to ensure that pest free status is achieved where possible, a nd m aintained if a chieved. Fo r o thers, m aintaining l ow f eral populations i s t he mo st practicable option. We hope that this assessment provides a solid foundation on whi ch i nvestment deci sions ca n be made for Australia’s offshore islands. However, we would like to emphasise that this assessment is a snapshot i n time, and we encour age the ongoing mai ntenance of island b iodiversity and f eral species datasets so that thr eats to i sland biodiversity can be c ontinually assessed and appropri ate measures taken to safeguard our ecological heritage into the future. high conservation status – offshore islands ecosure.com.au v Acronyms ABSA Australian Bird Study Association Australian Pest Animal Management Program APAMP (replaced NFACP), DAFF ATSIP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Australian Biosecurity System for Primary AusBIOSEC Production & the Environment ACT Australian Capital Territory, Australia Biosecurity, Surveillance, Incident Response & BioSIRT Tracing Bureau of Rural Sciences (formerly Bureau of BRS Resource Sciences) CAMBA China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement former Western Australian Department of CALM Conservation and Land Management CR threatened species listed as Critically Endangered Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research CSIRO Organisation Australian Government Department of DAFF Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Western Australian Government Department of DEC Environment and Conservation NSW Department of Conservation and Climate DECC Change former Australian Government