Marine Natural Values Study Summary - Parks Victoria

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Marine Natural Values Study SummaryBarwon BluffMarine SanctuaryAustralia’s southern waters areunique. Ninety per cent of ourmarine plants and animals arefound nowhere else on earth.The system of Marine NationalParks and Sanctuaries hasbeen established to representthe diversity of Victoria’smarine environment,its habitats and associatedflora and fauna.Victoria’s marine environmenthas been classified into fivebioregions according to anationally agreed schemebased on physical andbiological attributes.Barwon Bluff MarineSanctuary is one of five marinesanctuaries and two marinenational parks in the CentralVictoria bioregion.Image left:Southern rocklobster Jasus edwardsii on the subtidal reef.Photo by Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria.Image right:Submerged intertidal reef dominated by the brown algaeNeptune’s necklace Hormosira banksii.Photo by Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria.DescriptionThe sanctuary covers 15.7 hectaresand extends from the high water markat the Point Flinders headland, locallyknown as “The Bluff” at the mouthof the Barwon River.Close to the township of BarwonHeads, the sanctuary extends 400metres to the east and south of theheadland. It is accessible from theshore through the Barwon Headstownship or from “The Bluff”via stairways.Parks Victoria acknowledges theAboriginal Traditional Owners ofVictoria – including its parks andreserves. Indigenous tradition indicatesthat the sanctuary is part of Countryof Wadda wurrung.Physical Parameters and ProcessesWaters to the east of Point Flindersare relatively calm, influencedpredominantly by tidal currents andthe flow of water from Barwon River.West of Point Flinders the intertidalplatforms and beach are exposed topersistent high-energy south-westerlyswells in Bass Strait.Wind and wave action influence thebeaches, affecting grain size,deposition and erosion. Naturalhydrodynamic events such as stormsurges displace seaweed and kelpcommunities, erode beaches anddeposit sand over the reefs.Surface water temperatures varybetween an average 17.5°C in thesummer and 13.5°C in the winter.Tidal variation is 2.1 metres for springtides and 0.7 metres for neap tides.The Barwon River estuary runs intoBass Strait 600 metres north ofthe sanctuary. Barwon Heads isgeologically significant as a coastalbluff in Pleistocene dune calcarenitewith interbedded palaeosoils, restingon basalt.Marine Habitat Distributionand Ecological CommunitiesThe main habitats protected by thesanctuary include intertidal andsubtidal soft sediment, intertidal andsubtidal reefs, and the water column.The intertidal calcarenite and basaltreef is home to a variety of marineplants. The brown algae Neptune’snecklace Hormosira banksii is a keyhabitat forming plant on theseintertidal reefs. Other brown algae(e.g. Cystophora retorta, C. retroflexa)are largely found very low on theshore or in rock pools. The seagrassAmphibolis antarctica can also befound in rock pools.Large patches of the red turfing algaeCapreolia implexa can have very high27
cover on the intertidal reef. This algacan form a matrix with the tiny horsemussel Limnoperna pulex, whichoccurs in low abundance on the reef.Other aggregating invertebrates foundat in the sanctuary include the rosettebarnacle Tetraclitella purpurascens andsix-plated barnacle Chthamalusantennatus.The sanctuary is home to more thanthirty five species of intertidalinvertebrates including anemones(e.g. Oulactis spp., Aulactinia veratraand Actinia tenebrosa) that arecommon in rock pools, molluscs(e.g. Bembicium nanum, Nodilittorinaspp., Clypidina rugosa, Notoacmeamayi, Cellana tramoserica, Siphonariaspp., Cominella lineolata, Dicathaisorbita, and Aplysia gigantean),seastars (e.g. Meridiastra calcar andParvulastra exigua) and shore crabs(e.g. Cyclograpsus spp. andParagrapsus spp.). The ascidianPyura stolonifera is also presenton the lowest perimeter of the reef.Common fish on the Barwon Headsintertidal platform (found in rockpools) are the Tasmanian blennyParablennius tasmanianus andthe southern crested weedfishCristiceps australis.Bull kelp Durvillaea potatorum covered subtidal reef.Photo by Mark Rodrigue, Parks Victoria.The shallow (mostly
Page 1 and 2: Marine Natural ValuesStudy Summary1
Page 3: Australia’s southern waters areun
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Page 8 and 9: Marine National Park form part of t
Page 10 and 11: this habitat is an important feedin
Page 16 and 17: park management plan. Parks Victori
Page 18 and 19: e seen at low tide, though itis gen
Page 22 and 23: (Belloliva leucozona), though thism
Page 24 and 25: (as deep as 50m) including ascidian
Page 30 and 31: caspia, Sternula nereis and Sternas
Page 32 and 33: interpres and the hooded ploverThin
Page 36 and 37: The park is home to twenty-one biot
Page 38 and 39: Physical Parameters and ProcessesTh
Page 40 and 41: on the unvegetated sand beds.Specie
Page 42 and 43: Inside the Heads in Point Lonsdalea
Page 45 and 46: Sand patches and associated seagras
Page 49 and 50: Major ThreatsMeasures to address or
Page 51 and 52: anksii, as well as sea lettuce Ulva
Page 55 and 56: at their distributional limits in W
Page 57 and 58: provide habitat for epiphyticfilame
Page 61 and 62: Potentially thirty two species ofma
Page 63 and 64: of Victoria’s migratory waders an
Page 67 and 68: and polychaetes.Subtidal reefs and
Page 73 and 74: The introduced New Zealand seastarA
Page 75 and 76: The marine flora and fauna of thesu
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organisms. Those that make theirper
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Marine Natural Values Study Summary - Parks Victoria

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