Ashmore Reef (Australia) IBA | Details

Ashmore Reef

Current view: Details

IBA Justification

The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2009 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('key species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Lesser Frigatebird Fregata ariel	LC	resident (2001–2006)	2,300 individuals	A4ii
Brown Booby Sula leucogaster	LC	resident (2001–2006)	4,800 individuals	A4ii
Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes	LC	non-breeding (1998–2006)	85–1,706 individuals	A4i

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2009. The most recent assessment (2008) is shown below.

IBA conservation status
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2008	not assessed	high	not assessed
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	unset	good

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	happening now	most of population/area (50–90%)	slow deterioration (1–10% over 3 generations)	high
Human intrusions and disturbance	happening now	most of population/area (50–90%)	slow deterioration (1–10% over 3 generations)	high
Climate change and severe weather	likely in long term (beyond 4 years)	whole population/area (>90%)	slow deterioration (1–10% over 3 generations)	medium

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Not assessed	Not assessed	Not assessed	not assessed

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1983	Ashmore Reef	National Nature Reserve (Ia)	100
2004	Ashmore Reef	Commonwealth Marine Reserve (II)	94
2004	Ashmore Reef	Commonwealth Marine Reserve (II)	6

Habitats

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Marine Intertidal	major (>10)
Marine Neritic	major (>10)
Shrubland	minor (<10)

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
nature conservation and research	100

Land ownership

Federal Government - managed by Department of the Environment and Water Resources.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ashmore Reef (Australia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ashmore-reef-iba-australia on 16/01/2025.