Wildlife Australia - Spring 2017

colleagues at SEQ Catchments, I assessed Moreton Bay Marine
Park (MBMP) for potential World Heritage listing based on its
cultural, historic, natural and economic values – of which there are
many. This was the first marine park in Australia to be assessed
for its ecosystem services in economic terms. That assessment
revealed a bounty of natural assets. Some 12.4 million people
visit Moreton Bay annually for recreational fishing, ecotourism, or
educational and research purposes, and the park is estimated to be
worth some $7.7 billion in ecosystem services per annum – that’s
$2,520 per year per southeast Qld resident, based on the current
population, which is growing by around 65,000 people per year.

Spatially mapping an environment for inclusion on the World
Heritage list means assessing thousands of kilometres of
geographical terrain and habitat, hundreds of heritage-rich sites

• both Indigenous and historic – and numerous species against
  a list of criteria designed to prove a site’s authenticity, integrity,
  universal value, and propensity to be safeguarded and managed
  for future generations. Criteria can include being exemplary of
  important periods in Earth’s history, containing ‘superlative
  natural phenomena’ or protecting ‘important and significant
  natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity’–
  among others. For Moreton Bay, the sheer quantity of data and
  sites to sift through was both daunting and encouraging.
  My colleagues and I mapped the region for suitability by
  building on earlier assessments for National Heritage listing;
  doing so revealed three scenarios under which the region

might obtain World Heritage protection: (1) as an extension to

the existing Fraser Island World Heritage Area (WHA); (2) as a

separately listed site based on the cultural heritage values of

Moreton Bay; and (3) as a separately listed site based on historic

and natural values.

The bay islands: Fraser Island’s smaller siblings

In examining the Marine Park’s suitability for inclusion as part

of the Fraser Island WHA, we considered that the geological and

sand transportation processes within MBMP are comparable

to those of the other sand masses within the South East

Queensland bioregion, namely Fraser Island and the Cooloola–

Great Sandy National Park sand dunes. Geologically speaking,

they are part of the same system, and the larger bay islands

possess similarly impressive sand dunes and freshwater lakes.

Moreton Bay’s reformation occurred after a dramatic sea

level rise at the end of the last ice age. During the last glacial

period, 140,000 to 20,000 years ago, the entire area was part of

the Moreton plateau, stretching from the Toowoomba Range

eastward to the continental shelf. About 20,000 years ago, ice

began to melt and seas to rise. From 18,000 BP to 7000 BP, global

sea levels are believed to have risen more than 120 m. These

environmental changes submerged the south-eastern half of

the Moreton plateau, leaving only the high dunes of Moreton

Island (Moorgumpin) and North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah).

Parts of the great sand islands of Fraser, Moreton and North

Stradbroke have parabolic dunes aged from 120,000 BP to

140,000 BP, while Bribie Island and the newer dunes on the great

sand islands formed during the Holocene Epoch from 11,700 BP.

The remaining headlands at Fraser Island, Cooloola, Noosa,

Caloundra, Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island are thus

important geological features.

This was the first marine park in

Australia to be assessed for its

ecosystem services in economic terms.

Historic Cape Moreton Lighthouse was

Queensland’s first, dating to 1857. The headland

itself is the anchoring point for beach and sand

dune formation during each ice age. Bay islands

can be considered part of the same sand-based

complex that makes up the Fraser Island World

Heritage Area. Photo: Ian Cochrane [CC].

Middens – piles of shells, bones,

artefacts and ‘ecofacts’ from

Indigenous use – are found

throughout the region, including on

the banks of tannin-stained Wallen

Wallen Creek, North Stradbroke

Island. Photo: Lui Weber.

Moreton Island provided a crucial

nesting site for loggerhead and

green turtles (pictured) during the

Holocene. Photo: Shannon Mooney,

Healthy Land and Water

Two very similar dolphin species inhabit Moreton Bay: the Indo-Pacific

bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus, pictured) and the common

bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The Moreton Bay Dolphin

Research Project enlists eco-volunteers to help photograph and study

populations of both species. Photo: Andy Burton

26 | Wildlife Australia | SPRING 2017