 Ashmore and Cartier Islands The Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands are two groups of small low-lying uninhabited tropical islands in the Indian Ocean situated on the edge of the continental shelf north-west of Australia and south of the Indonesian island of Roti at 12°14′S 123°5′E. Ashmore and Cartier Islands From PCL map collection This image is not licensed under the GFDL. It is under a non-commercial-use only licence. ...
Sediment Rock Mantle The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ...
Satellite photo of Roti Rote Island (Bahasa Indonesia: Pulau Rote, also spelled Roti) is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. ...
Geography The territory includes Ashmore Reef (West, Middle, and East Islets) and Cartier Island (70 km east) with, a total area of 199.45 km² within the reefs and including the lagoons, and 114,400 m² of dry land. While they have a total of 74.1 km of shoreline, measured along the outer edge of the reef, there are no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorage. Nearby Hibernia Reef, 42 km Northeast of Ashmore Reef, is not part of the territory. It has no permanently dry land area, although large parts of the reef become exposed during low tide. Cartier Island is a small uninhabited islet in the Indian Ocean north of Australia and south of Indonesia. ...
See lagoon (disambiguation) for other possible meanings. ...
- Ashmore Reef 155.40 km² area within reef (including lagoon)
- West Islet, 51,200 m² land area;
- Middle Islet, 21,200 m² land area;
- East Islet, 25,000 m² land area;
- Cartier Reef (44.03 km² area within reef (including lagoon)
- Cartier Island, 17,000 m² land area;
There is an automatic weather station on West Islet.
Government The territory is administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage. The FIPS-10 date code is AT; the territory is bundled along with Australia in ISO 3166. Defence is the responsibility of Australia, with periodic visits by the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. The islands are visited by seasonal caretakers. Canberra (pronounced [1]) is the capital city of Australia and with a population of just over 325,000, is Australias largest inland city. ...
ISO 3166 is a three-part geographic coding standard for coding the names of countries and dependent areas, and the principal subdivisions thereof. ...
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. ...
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. ...
The word caretaker may have numerous meanings, but the most common two are (1) a person or persons who cares for a property in exchange for rent-free living accommodations and (2) temporary government which takes control until a stable rule can be restored. ...
Ecology and environment The Ashmore Reef Marine National Nature Reserve was established in August 1983. It is of significant biodiversity value as it is in the flow of the Indonesian throughflow current from the Pacific Ocean through the Indonesian Archipelago to the Indian Ocean. It is also in a surface current west from the Arafura Sea and Timor Sea. There are 14 distinct species of sea snake in the area, more than in any other area. There is also an unusually high level of species diversity of coral, mollusks, and fish. A memorandum of understanding between the Australian and Indonesian governments allows Indonesian fishermen access to their traditional fishing grounds within the region, subject to limits. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. ...
The Indonesian Throughflow is an ocean current that transports water between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian Archipelago. ...
An ocean current is any more or less permanent or continuous, directed movement of ocean water that flows in one of the Earths oceans. ...
World map depicting Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is a vast archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia (Indochina) and Australia. ...
The Arafura Sea is the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea. ...
The Timor Sea (Indonesian: Laut Timor; Portugeuse: Mar Timor) is an arm of the Indian Ocean situated between the island of Timor, now split between the states of Indonesia and East Timor, and the Northern Territory of Australia. ...
Genus Aipysurus Amydocephalus Acalyptophis Astrotia Enhydrina Ephalophis Hydrelaps Hydrophis Kerilia Kolpophis Lapemis Parahydrophis Pelamis Thalassophina Thalassophis Laticauda Sea snakes of several different species belong to a group related to the cobras but are aquatic rather than land dwelling. ...
Species diversity refers to the number and distribution of species in one location. ...
Subclasses Alcyonaria Zoantharia See text for orders. ...
Classes Caudofoveata Aplacophora Polyplacophora Monoplacophora Bivalvia Scaphopoda Gastropoda Cephalopoda †Rostroconchia The mollusks or molluscs are the large and diverse phylum Mollusca, which includes a variety of familiar creatures well-known for their decorative shells or as seafood. ...
A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ...
Cartier Island Marine Reserve includes the entire sand cay of Cartier Island, the reef surrounding it, the ocean for a 7.2 km radius around the island, and 1000 m below the seafloor. It was proclaimed in 2000. This article is about the year 2000. ...
Birds See the article: Birds of Ashmore Reef. The Birds of Ashmore Reef comprise three main groups: Seabirds, including at least five species of breeding terns, with several other seabirds, including petrels, recorded in the surrounding waters Migratory shorebirds en route from northern Asia to Australia Landbirds, only three breeding species (two herons and a rail) but several...
Economy and migration There is no economic activity in the Territory.
As Ashmore Reef is the closest point of Australian territory to Indonesia, it was a popular target for people smugglers transporting asylum seekers to Australia. Once they had landed on Ashmore, asylum seekers could claim to have entered Australian territory and request to be processed as refugees. The use of Ashmore for this purpose created great notoriety during late 2001, when the issue of refugee arrivals became a major political issue in Australia. As Australia was not the country of first asylum for these "boat people", the Australian Government did not consider it had a responsibility to accept them and this was popularly supported by the public. People smuggling is a term which is used to describe the illegal and organised smuggling of people across international boundaries, usually for financial gain. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
A number of things were done to discourage the practice such as attempting to have the people smugglers arrested in Indonesia; the so-called Pacific Solution of processing them in third countries; the boarding and forced turnaround of the boats by Australian military forces, and finally excising Ashmore and many other small islands from the Australian migration zone. Two boatloads of asylum seekers were each detained for several days in the lagoon at Ashmore after failed attempts by the Royal Australian Navy to turn them back to Indonesia in October 2001. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mandatory detention in Australia. ...
The Australian migration zone refers to the parts of Australian territory where a non citizen must hold a visa to legally enter and remain. ...
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. ...
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