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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
Black-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens	LC	resident (1999)	595 breeding pairs	A4i
Pacific Gull Larus pacificus	LC	resident (1985)	55 breeding pairs	A4i

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.

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Transportation and service corridors	happen­ing now	some of popul­ation/area (10–49%)	slow deteri­oration (1–10% over 3 gener­ations)	medium
Human intrusions and disturbance	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low
Invasive and other problematic species and genes	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low
Biological resource use	happen­ing now	few individ­uals/small area (<10%)	no deteri­oration (<1% over 3 gener­ations)	low

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

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
2005	Little Waterhouse Island	Nature Reserve (Ia)	6
2012	Ninth Island	Conservation Area (V)	37

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Shrubland	major (>10)	Chenopod shrubs, samphire shrubs and forblands
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	-

Land use	% of IBA
nature conservation and research	major (>10)
other	major (>10)

Some of Ninth Island is privately owned. The remainder of Ninth Island and all of Little Waterhouse Island is Crown Land.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ninth and Little Waterhouse Islands (Australia). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ninth-and-little-waterhouse-islands-iba-australia on 26/01/2025.