Solitary Islands Marine Park


Solitary Islands Marine Park is a marine park in New South Wales State waters, Australia. It adjoins the Solitary Islands Marine Reserve and was declared under the Marine Parks Act 1997 in January 1998. Prior to this it was declared a marine reserve in 1991. The Park was one of the first declared in NSW and stretches along the northern NSW coast, from Muttonbird Island, Coffs Harbour, to Plover Island near Sandon River, 75 kilometres to the north. It includes coastal estuaries and lakes and extends from the mean high water mark, to three nautical miles out to sea, covering an area of around 72 000 hectares. There are five main islands in the Park, North Solitary Island, North West Solitary Island, South West Solitary Island, South Solitary Island and Split Solitary Island, as well as other significant outcrops such as Muttonbird Island and submerged reefs.
On 15 May 1770, Lieut. James Cook sailed past the Solitary Islands and noted their position in his journal, “Between 2 and 4 we had some small rocky Islands between us and the land the southernmost lies in the Latitude of 30°10' and the northernmost in 29°58' and about 2 Leagues or more from the land.” He named them the "Solitary Isles" on his chart.

Ecology

The Solitary Island Marine Park contains a diverse range of habitats including intertidal and subtidal reefs, soft sediments, beaches, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarsh and open waters, which support a large variety of fauna and flora. The northern section of the marine park borders the Yuragir National Park, between Sandon River and Red Rock, which contains several open and closed lakes and lagoons. As well as bordering Moonee Beach Nature Reserve, Garby Nature Reserve at Arrawarra, and Coffs Coast Regional Park, it also incorporates Muttonbird Island Nature Reserve, Split Solitary Island Nature Reserve, South West Solitary Island Nature Reserve, North West Solitary Island Nature Reserve, North Rock Nature Reserve, North Solitary Island Nature Reserve and the South Solitary Island Historic Site which covers 11 hectares and incorporates the lighthouse and keepers cottages built in 1879. Prior to European settlement, none of these islands had been inhabited, burned or subject to grazing animals. A fragile balanced ecology had built up over centuries.
The coastal areas adjoining the Marine Park are high in species richness and endemism and the waters around the Solitary Islands are strongly influenced by the warm East Australian Current. The continental shelf of northern NSW lies at the juncture of tropical and temperate oceanographic regions, and the sea temperature patterns within the Solitary Islands region explains the cross-shelf gradients in :wikt:biotic|biotic patterns. Both tropical and temperate faunas overlap here, and for many species the Marine Park may represent either their northern or southern limits.

Flora

Vegetation types in the Marine Park include freshwater and marine ecosystems as well as, mangroves and saline communities, frontal dune and foreshore communities and exposed high dune sand systems. Millar, records 119 species of Red Algae from the Coffs Harbour Region, including 22 which were new records for Australia, and Dictyothamnion constituting a new genus.
Mangroves are found in sheltered estuarine environments in a transitional zone between land and sea, generally in an intertidal area and provide habitat for many fish, birds and invertebrates. Two types of mangroves dominate, grey mangrove and river mangrove.
The vegetation on the islands and headlands in the region are dwarf grassy heath and rocky heath that struggle with shallow soils and salty winds. Threatened plant species found growing on the headlands, include Carpet Star, which is endemic to the Coffs Harbour region, and Austral Toadflax.
North Solitary Island: Pigface, Couch grass, Summer grass, Wandering Jew, Coast Morning Glory, Yellow-flowered Oxalis and Saltbush.
North-West Solitary Island: Pigface, Saltbush, Prickly Couch, Wandering Jew, Coast Morning Glory are predominant species.
South-West Solitary Island: Pigface, Wandering Jew, Variable groundsel, New Zealand Spinach, Climbing Saltbush, Tuckeroo, Prickly Couch, Dusky Coral Pea, and Shore Spleenwort.
South Solitary Island: vegetation consists mainly of grasses including Prickly couch, Whiskey grass, Durrington grass, Slender mudgrass, and Buffalo grass.
Birdie : Wandering Jew, Coast Morning Glory, New Zealand Spinach, Coastal yellow Pea, Pennywort and Pigweed.
Split Solitary: Climbing Saltbush, Variable Groundsel, Pigface, Wandering Jew, Coastal Yellow Pea and Sword Bean.
Korfs Islet: Pigface, Prickly couch, Summer grass, Ruby saltbush and Sea purslane.
Muttonbird Island: Pigface, Tuckeroo, Wandering Jew, Dusky Coral Pea, Prickly couch, Weeping grass, Lantana, Flax Lily, Bull Cane, and introduced Spiny burr grass which have spread.

Fauna

Birds

, shorebirds, waders, waterfowl and raptors depend on marine and estuaryine habitats. The Solitary Islands are an important breeding area for marine birds such as Osprey, while threatened species such as the Australian Pied Oystercatcher, Sooty Oystercatcher and Beach Stone-curlew are local shorebirds that breed in the Marine Park. It also periodically hosts three endangered marine birds, Gould’s Petrel, Wandering Albatross and Southern Giant Petrel.
Endangered Little Terns breed on beaches north and south of Coffs Harbour, between October and February, before departing on their annual migration to eastern Asia. A Little Tern Recovery Program is managed by National Parks and Wildlife Service who aim to help the species recover sufficient numbers. Wedge-tailed shearwaters, called Muttonbirds by early settlers, migrate to the Philippines, but return annually to a major breeding site at Muttonbird Island, on the southern boundary of the Marine Park. There are over 5500 breeding pairs on Muttonbird Island, but breeding occurs on some of the other islands as well. Other breeding birds recorded on the islands include Little Penguins, Black-winged Petrel, Silver Gulls and Crested Tern.
Migratory shorebirds that spend the summers at the Marine Park, like the Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew and the Ruddy Turnstone, breed in Siberia, Alaska or the Arctic.
Raptors such as the White-breasted Sea-eagle Brahminy kite and Osprey are often seen hunting for fish in the Marine Park, and waterbirds such as herons and egrets, as well as sacred kingfishers, are regularly seen in the estuaries.

Mammals

Around 30 species of marine mammals have been recorded in the region, including the Short-beaked common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin who are residents throughout the year. Of particular interest in the Marine Park and Reserve are those species listed as threatened and subject to national and international conventions. These mammals include humpback whales, who are commonly encountered in the area as they migrate north to their breeding grounds in June and July, and then again between September and November when they return south, Southern right whales and Blue whales.
At the edge of the marine park, the endangered Little Bent-wing Bat, roost in caves on the Moonee Beach headland.
While there was a lighthouse keeper on South Solitary Island, rabbits, goats and dogs were introduced to the island to the detriment of the vegetation, but these animals have since been removed. Rats, bandicoots and foxes have been found on Muttonbird Island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway, however National Parks and Wildlife Service have an eradication program in place to control this.

Fish

858 species of fish are found in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. The area around Pimpernel Rock, at the northern end of the Solitary Islands Marine Reserve is favoured by the endangered Grey nurse shark, who has a preference for gutters in reefs and submarine caves. However the most significant habitat for the grey nurse shark in the Marine Park is South Solitary Island, though they do occur throughout the park. The Great white shark is also seen around Pimpernel Rock. There are many species of reef fish in the Park, including snapper, tusk fish, blue morwong and pearl perch as well as pelagic species such as kingfish that are attractive to commercial and recreational fishermen. Commercial fishing fleets operate from Coffs Harbour and Wooli.
The area on the western side of North West Rock is known as "Fish Soup” and has a very high diversity of fish. Tropical predators like spangled emperor, bigeye trevally, mangrove jack, moses perch and brown sweetlip occur with mulloway, snapper, red morwong, silver trevally, bream and tarwhine.

Reptiles

Marine turtles are common in the Park, with green turtle, loggerhead turtle, hawksbill turtle and occasional sightings of leatherback turtles. Nesting green turtles and loggerhead turtles have been recorded on several beaches, with some eggs hatching successfully. Only a few species of sea snakes have been recorded in the region, including the Elegant sea snake and Yellow-bellied sea snake.
The only reptile recorded on Muttonbird Island since 1969 is Burton’s Snake Lizard though Eastern Water Dragons were plentiful prior to 1930.

Invertebrates

At depths greater than 25 metres the sea bottom is dominated by sponges and invertebrates. More than 700 species of molluscs and coral are found in the Marine Park. Invertebrate species found include blue-bottles, sea-squirts, sea-whips and black coral, as well as oysters and crustaceans such as crabs, prawns and crayfish. Commercial prawn trawling is allowed in the general use area of the Park and crab and lobster trapping in both the general use and habitat protected areas.

Coral

The Solitary Islands region contains the southernmost extensive coral communities in coastal eastern Australia. The East Australian Current transports the coral larvae from the warm tropical waters, and with 90 reported species, there are approximately quarter of the species recorded on the Great Barrier Reef.

Environmental threats and issues

Even though the Marine Park is a protected zone, commercial fishing and recreational activities such as fishing, crabbing, boating and scuba diving are allowed in some zones of the park. Environmental threats to the Solitary Islands Marine Park may include pollution, introduced predators, oil spills, humans, dredging, sewage outfalls, shipping, marine debris, and tourism. Introduced pests such as the Pacific Oyster and the Crown-of-thorns starfish are occacionally recorded in the area.
Introduced domestic animals on South Solitary Island during the days of lighthouse keepers, destroyed the natural vegetation, and eroded topsoil, which in turn caused the nesting Wedgetail shearwaters’ burrows to collapse.
An accidental fire on South West Solitary Island, caused by fishermen, destroyed much vegetation, killing nesting birds and their eggs.
Due to the rocky nature of the area, a number of ships were wrecked on the northern NSW coast. This led to the construction of a series of lighthouses, with the South Solitary Island lighthouse being completed in 1870.
During the 1960s and 70s many of the beaches were affected by sand mining.
Litter in marine environments is a threat to seabirds, causing entanglement or ingestion of debris, often leading to death.

Management

The Solitary Island Marine Park is managed by the NSW Maritime Parks Authority and is split into 4 management zones: Sanctuary zones which provide the highest level of environmental protection, with all fishing activities prohibited. Habitat protection zones allow for many recreational activities such as fishing but provides a high level of environmental protection. General use zone allows commercial fishing as well as a wider range of activities, and lastly the Special Purpose zones cover sites of cultural significance to the Aboriginal community, research sites and oyster leases. South Solitary Island with its lighthouse and cottages is a historic site. Visiting the island is allowed for two weekends of the year, in July, by helicopter.
Public Moorings: A number of public moorings have been installed in the Park, and are located within the sanctuary zone around Northwest Rock, North Solitary Island, North West Solitary Island, South West Solitary Island, Split Solitary Island, South Solitary Island and Surgeons Reef.