parks victoria technical series marine natural values study vol 2 ...

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