What is the Heard Island & McDonald Islands Marine Reserve?

One of the world’s largest highly protected IUCN category 1A marine reserves the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve was established by Australia in the waters surrounding HIMI in 2002.

Does Heard Island have high resolution bathymetry?

High resolution bathymetry of the seafloor around Heard Island has been updated in 2011 (Beaman & O’Brien, 2011) and 2023 (Beaman, 2023) to incorporate single beam data from fishing vessels and multi-beam data from research voyages, including from the 2016 and 2020 voyages by the RV Investigator (Coffin et al., 2020).

How many submarine banks are there on Heard Island?

The five discrete submarine banks rising less than 500 metres with gazetted names: Pike, Discovery, Aurora and Coral banks to the north and north-west of Heard Island; and Shell Bank to the east, which is separated from the plateau by a trough were confirmed by Brolsma (ibid.).

Does Heard Island have a benthic fauna?

The benthic fauna at Heard Island is diverse, with over 500 distinct invertebrate taxa identified in bottom samples from the banks, shallow plateau and slopes down to 1000 metres (Hibberd, 2014). Highest diversity is observed on the shallow plateau northwest of HIMI and on Shell Bank.

Are there seals on Heard Island?

Of these, the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) and the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) breed in significant numbers on Heard Island and forage in the HIMI EEZ. Following sealing in the 19th century, Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella recolonised Heard Island in the 1960s.

Is there a Gazella on Heard Island?

When last surveyed, in the summer of 2003/4, the A. gazella population on Heard Island numbered in the thousands and was estimated to be growing at 12–20 percent per annum, and small numbers of sub-Antarctic fur seal pups were also observed (Page et al., 2003).