__NOTOC__ Cook Island Aquatic Reserve is a

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

in the South

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, located around Cook Island, about from the

Fingal Head Fingal Head is a village on the Tasman Sea coast in the far northeast of New South Wales, Australia, about 5 km south of the New South Wales and Queensland border. The village is often just called Fingal. The headland and the small off-shor ...

mainland of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. The aquatic reserve consists of the waters around the island within a radius of of a survey marker located on the island up to the Mean High Water Mark. It was declared on 23 October 1998 under the state's ''Fisheries Management Act 1994''. As of 2016, its area was . The aquatic reserve consists of two zones – one extending from Mean High Water Mark on the island to a "boundary defined by five marker buoys" where fishing is prohibited and another extending from the "marker buoys" to the outer boundary of the aquatic reserve where fishing is permitted. The waters within the aquatic reserve are used for recreational activities including

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

. Thirteen

moorings A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel (such as a boat, ship, or amphibious aircraft) may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to ...

have been located within the aquatic reserve for use by boats to eliminate the need to anchor and therefore minimise damage to the seabed. The aquatic reserve contains a wide variety of fish species including

anemonefish Clownfishes or anemonefishes (genus ''Amphiprion'') are saltwater fishes found in the warm and tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific. They inhabit mainly coral reefs and have a distinctive colouration typically consisting of white vertical bars on ...

, bullseyes,

grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

s, leatherjackets,

parrotfish Parrotfish (named for their mouths, which resemble a parrot's beak) are a clade of fish placed in the tribe Scarini of the wrasse family (Labridae). Traditionally treated as their own family (Scaridae), genetic studies have found them to be dee ...

pufferfish Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

surgeonfish Acanthuridae are a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish which includes surgeonfishes, tangs, and Naso (fish), unicornfishes. The family includes about 86 Extant taxon, extant species of ocean, marine fish living in tropical seas, usually ...

, sweetlips and

trevally The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish that includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, trevallies, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the ...

. It is frequented by migratory shark species, blind sharks (''Brachaelurus waddi''),

leopard shark The leopard shark (''Triakis semifasciata'') is a species of houndshark, in the family (biology), family Houndshark, Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically ...

s (''Stegostoma semifasciatum'') and

wobbegong Wobbegong is the common name given to the 12 species of carpet sharks in the family Orectolobidae. They are found in shallow temperate and tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean, chiefly around Australia and Indone ...

s. Other native animals include

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

flatworm Platyhelminthes (from the Greek language, Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") is a Phylum (biology), phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, Segmentation (biology), ...

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

molluscs Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

and

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea Batoidea, rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwate ...

s. It hosts diverse fauna and was noted as an important habitat of sharks in 2009 by Tweed Shire Council's Coast and Waterways Officer, Tom Alletson. As of 2016, the aquatic reserve has been classified under International Union for Conservation of Nature system of protected area categories with the no-fishing zone is

IUCN Category II IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

and the line fishing only zone is

IUCN Category IV IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official webpageWebpage on the Protected Planet webpage
Tweed Heads, New South Wales Tweed Shire IUCN Category II IUCN Category IV Marine protected areas of New South Wales Protected areas established in 1998 1998 establishments in Australia

See also

References

External links