true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

POLAR WATERS REGION

ISRA FACTSHEETS

POLAR WATERS REGION

Heard Island & McDonald Islands ISRA

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Heard Island & McDonald Islands ISRA

Heard Island & McDonald Islands

Summary

Heard Island & McDonald Islands is located on the Kerguelen Plateau slope, 4,000 km southwest of mainland Australia in the Southern Ocean. The area is characterised by canyons, escarpments, ridges, and terraces. The area overlaps with the Australian Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve and marginally with the French National Natural Reserve of the Terres australes françaises. Within this area there are: threatened species (Kerguelen Skate Bathyraja irrasa); and range restricted species (e.g., Murray’s Skate Bathyraja murrayi).

Heard Island & McDonald Islands

Heard Island & McDonald Islands

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Heard Island & McDonald Islands is located on the Kerguelen Plateau slope, 4,000 km southwest of mainland Australia in the Southern Ocean. The area encompasses waters around the Australian external territory of Heard Island & McDonald Islands and extends marginally into French waters of Kerguelen Islands (French Southern and Antarctic Lands; les Terres australes et antarctiques françaises; TAAF). The area is characterised by canyons, escarpments, ridges, and terraces along the slope.

The main oceanographic influence on the area is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flowing eastward. It splits at the Kerguelen Plateau, with most of the flow deflected around the northern side, through the area (Park et al. 2008).

The area overlaps with the Australian Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Marine Reserve (Commonwealth of Australia 2014) and marginally with the French National Natural Reserve of the Terres australes françaises.

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthic and subsurface and is delineated from 200–1,220 m based on the depth range of Qualifying Species in the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

One Qualifying Species within the area is considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Kerguelen Skate is assessed as Vulnerable (Dulvy et al. 2020).

CRITERION B

RANGE RESTRICTED

The area holds the regular presence of Kerguelen Skate and Murray’s Skate as resident range-restricted species.

The regular presence of these species has been documented through fisheries bycatch monitoring (e.g., AFMA 2013; Nowara et al. 2017). Heard Island & McDonald Islands represent hotspots of skate capture. In commercial trawl data, Kerguelen Skate is most abundant (up to >100 skates km2) to the north and northwest of Heard Island at depths between 300–500 m (Nowara et al. 2017). Catches from commercial longlines also show Kerguelen Skate is abundant to the northwest of Heard Island (near the edge of the Australian exclusive economic zone), and in a few patches to the east and west of Heard Island (Nowara et al. 2017). Further, between 2006 and 2022, Kerguelen Skates (n = 307 in trawl; n = 20,417 in longline) were sampled in Australian commercial trawl and longline fisheries (J Faure unpubl. data 2024).

Murray’s Skate is regularly reported, particularly the north, northwest, and northeast of Heard Island and is most abundant (up to >100/km2) in waters shallower than 300 m close to the northern side of Heard Island (Nowara et al. 2017). Murray’s Skate and the Kerguelen Skate are endemic to, and therefore range restricted to, the wider Kerguelen Plateau and occur nowhere else in the Southern Ocean or globally (Stehmann & Bürkel 1990; Last et al. 2016).

Heard Island & McDonald Islands

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