Rowley Shoals
Encyclopedia
Atoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
-like coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
reefs south of the Timor Sea
Timor Sea
The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean....
, about 260 km west of Broome
Broome, Western Australia
Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
on the northwestern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n coast, centered around 17°20′S 119°20′E, on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves
Continental shelf
The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain. Much of the shelf was exposed during glacial periods, but is now submerged under relatively shallow seas and gulfs, and was similarly submerged during other interglacial periods. The continental margin,...
in the world. Each atoll covers an area of around 80 to 90 km² within the rim of the reef, including the lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
s, while the land areas are negligible. They belong to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. They all rise steeply from the surrounding ocean floor. To the northeast lie the Scott and Seringapatam Reefs
Scott and Seringapatam Reefs
Scott and Seringapatam Reefs is a group of atoll-like reefs in the Timor Sea more than 300 km northwest of Cape Leveque, Western Australia, on the edge of the continental shelf. There are three or four separate reef structures, depending on whether Scott Reef Central is counted separately...
which are located on the same undersea platform. The group was named after Captain Rowley, who sighted Imperieuse Reef in 1800. It is believed that the Rowley Shoals reefs have been visited by fishermen from Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, from at least the mid-18th century. The fishermen were also collecting or hunting for Trepang (holothurians or sea cucumbers), turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
shell, trochus shell and shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
fin.
These early visitors apparently knew the Rowley Shoals as Pulau Pulo Dhaoh. In later years, fishermen from Roti Island, south of Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
, also visited the Rowley Shoals, which they knew as Pulau Bawa Angin. The individual reefs were also given names, Mermaid being called Pulau Manjariti, Clerke Reef was Pulau Tengah and Imperieuse Reef was Pulau Matsohor.
- Mermaid Reef, the northeastern one of the three reefs at 17°06′S 119°37′E, is an atoll with a large lagoon enclosed by a rim of coral, which falls dry. There are many drying patches in the lagoon. On the northeast side of the reef, there is a passage, about 60 m wide, leading into the lagoon. Mermaid Reef rises steeply from the surrounding ocean floor, which is 440 m deep. The atoll was named in 1818 by Captain Philip Parker King, who discovered the reef and named it after his ship.
- Clerke Reef (also called Minstrel Shoal), at 17°19′S 119°21′E, lies about 23 km southwest of Mermaid Reef. The reef has a length of about 15 km north-south, and a width of about 6 km. Near the northern end of the reef lies Bedwell Islet, a bare sand cay about 2 m high. On the eastern and western sides of the reef there are a number of boulders which fall dry. A narrow passage leads to a lagoon, with many detached coral patches within the reef. Clerke Reef rises steeply from the surrounding ocean floor, which is 390 m deep. It was also named by Captain Philip Parker King, after Captain Clerke, who had reported it from a whaler between 1800 and 1809.
- Imperieuse Reef, at 17°35′S 118°55′E, lies about 35 km southwest of Clerke Reef and is the southwesternmost of Rowley Shoals. It is about 16 km in length north-south and has a width of about 8 km. On the southeastern edge of the reef there are numerous coral boulders, which rise about 3 m above the water mark. Large areas of the reef fall dry at low water and there are two lagoons, which each contain many coral patches within. Cunningham Islet, a small sand cay 3.7 m high and devoid of vegetation, is located close within the northern extremity of the reef, and is surrounded by a small lagoon, 93 m wide. The islet is the location of a lighthouseLighthouseA lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
, Imperieuse Reef Light. Imperieuse Reef rises steeply from the surrounding ocean floor, which is 230 m deep. The reef was also named by Captain Phillip Parker King, after the ship from which it was sighted by Captain Rowley in 1800.
Clerke and Imperieuse Reefs form the Rowley Shoals Marine Park, declared in 1990 and extended in 2004. The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) now known as the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) of Western Australia. The nearby Mermaid Reef Marine National Nature Reserve is managed by the Australian Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA) with the assistance of CALM.
Since about 1977 charter boats based from Broome began operating deep sea
Deep sea
The deep sea, or deep layer, is the lowest layer in the ocean, existing below the thermocline and above the seabed, at a depth of 1000 fathoms or more. Little or no light penetrates this part of the ocean and most of the organisms that live there rely for subsistence on falling organic matter...
fishing and diving
Underwater diving
Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater, either with breathing apparatus or by breath-holding .Recreational diving is a popular activity...
expeditions to the reefs and seas around. Since this time interest in the area has grown considerably and the Rowley Shoals has achieved a reputation for offering some of the best diving in Australia. The reefs are among the most remote and pristine marine areas in the world.
External links
Further reading
- Berry, P.F. Ed. (1986) Faunal surveys of the Rowley Shoals, Scott Reef, and Seringapatam Reef, North-western Australia Perth, W.A. : Western Australian Museum, Records of the Western Australian Museum. Supplement, 0313-122X ; no. 25. ISBN 0730903400