Country/territory: High Seas
IBA Criteria met: -
For more information about IBA criteria please click here
Area: 722,096 ha
Site description
This Marine IBA is identified using tracking data. It falls within High Seas International Waters and the Indian Ocean, FAO ocean region. The site covers an area of 7221 km2 and is 1327 km away from the closet coastline. The depth ranges from 4641 to 5054 m, with a mean annual wind speed of 2.26 m/s, mean annual sea surface temperature falls between 17.02 and 17.55 °C and mean annual chlorophyll-a concentrations found to range between 0.17 and 0.23 mg/m3.
Key biodiversity
2 species trigger IBA criteria at this Marine IBA. BirdLife analyses of tracking data estimates that 278-642 individuals of Wandering Albatross (VU) from Iles Crozet are present at the site during the Juvenile (Dec-Jun) life-history stage. 4501-5249 individuals of Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (EN) from Ile Amsterdam are present at the site during the Incubation (Sep-Nov) life-history stage.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Indian Ocean, Western 15 - Marine. Downloaded from
http://www.birdlife.org on 01/04/2023.