The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is a protected area covering the majority of the Heard Island and McDonald Islands territory. The territory, governed as an external territory of Australia, includes the named islands as well as their surrounding territorial waters and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The marine reserve is divided into three zones with different protection levels. The most protected zone fully encompasses the islands and their territorial waters, as well as areas of the surrounding ocean with representative biological communities. The two other zones cover different parts of the EEZ.
Heard Island and the McDonald Islands are remote islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They are parts of the mostly submerged Kerguelen Plateau, along with the French Kerguelen Islands to the northwest. Heard Island was discovered in 1853, and the McDonald Islands the year after. Seal hunting took place on Heard Island for the next two decades. The islands came under Australian control in 1947. The surrounding ocean was heavily fished by the Soviet Union from the 1960s. In 1979, Australia declared that waters within of the islands were part of the Australian Fishing Zone, providing them some protection from international fishing. In 1987, Australia legislated to protect the islands and their territorial waters. Commercial fishing of Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish in the EEZ began in 1997.
Discussion about creating a marine reserve began around the turn of the century. Following consultations among government, researchers, and the fishing industry, the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve was established in October 2002. This reserve incorporated the islands and their already protected surrounding waters, as well as representative areas of ocean to the north and northeast. Fishing was banned in the reserve, which was slightly expanded in 2014. In 2025, the reserve was expanded again, now encompassing most of the territory. However, the newly included areas were given a level of protection that permits some commercial activities. The fisheries are monitored for sustainability, and illegal fishing has not been observed since 2005.
The seafloor encompassed by the reserve is geologically varied, creating distinct ecological habitats. The oceans are highly productive, supporting marine animals as well as the seabirds and marine mammals that breed on Heard Island. Benthic communities vary along a roughly east–west axis. Management of the reserve is difficult due to the territory's remote location, and relies in large part upon cooperation with the fishing companies. Research of the territory has also been limited. There is some research and management cooperation with neighbouring France. The territory's remoteness has also protected it from most human impact. Visits are rare, and the islands host very few invasive species.
History Early history
Heard Island was discovered in 1853, and the McDonald Islands in 1854. The first landing on Heard Island took place in 1855. Around 100 ships visited the island for seal hunting until 1877. The island had produced about one hundred thousand barrels of seal oil. Southern elephant seals may have survived in limited numbers, but Antarctic fur seals only started breeding on Heard Island again in the 1960s.
After being claimed by the United Kingdom in 1910, the islands became an Australian territory in 1947. Environmental protection was not a priority during this period, although Australia did claim territorial waters around the islands. An Australian scientific research station was maintained on Heard Island from 1947 until 1955, when focus shifted to the new Mawson Station in Antarctica. Despite their remote location and rough seas, the territory was occasionally visited for hunting and fishing. The Soviet Union began fishing above the Kerguelen Plateau in the late 1960s, continuing until the expansion of the Australian maritime claim.
The waters around the Heard and McDonald Islands first became protected in 1979, when 200 nautical miles of surrounding waters (aside from where this would have entered the jurisdiction of the French Kerguelen Islands) were included in the newly created Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ). Management of the AFZ was later altered by the Fisheries Management Act 1991. In 1994, Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the waters of the AFZ became congruent with the exclusive economic zone of the territory.
In 1980, Australia signed the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which came into effect in 1982 and encompassed the Heard and McDonald Islands. The Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Act 1981 applied CCAMLR in Australian law. In 1983, the islands were added to the Register of the National Estate, giving them a protected heritage status. The Heard Island and McDonald Islands Environment Protection and Management Ordinance 1987 explicitly aimed to "protect the environment and the indigenous wildlife of the Territory", and restricted entry to the islands and their territorial sea. The ordinance banned the unauthorised bringing of organisms to the territory, as well as the unauthorised removal of organisms from the territory. A lot of debris from the abandoned scientific station was removed in the 1980s. An automatic weather station was installed in 1990.
The 1987 ordinance also created the requirement for a management plan for the islands, although one was not created until 1995. Pursuant to this plan, the Heard Island Wilderness Reserve was created under the jurisdiction of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). This reserve included the territorial waters. In 1990, Australia sought to have the territory declared a World Heritage Site. The site was listed in 1997, in part due to its unique wildlife. The of territorial waters were included in the listing, and fishing was further banned in a buffer zone around this. In total, of land was protected, along with of sea. The World Heritage Area was added to Australia's National Heritage List in 2007.
Trawl surveys in 1990, 1992, and 1993 provided an initial assessment of mackerel icefish and Patagonian toothfish presence. Regular commercial fishing for both species began in 1997, although it was prohibited in the territorial waters and their surrounding buffer zone. Fishing was initially carried out through trawling. After the introduction of longline fishing in 2003, Patagonian toothfish fishing shifted towards that method. By the mid-2010s, trawling was rarely used for toothfish. As longline fishing reaches deeper waters, it tends to catch larger toothfish. Fish traps began to see use in small numbers from 2009. Trawling is still used to catch mackerel icefish.
Planning The waters around the Heard and McDonald Islands were one of five priority areas for inclusion in a new National Representative System of Marine Reserves, created following Australia's signing of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. The creation of such reserves was made possible through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This act also linked domestic Australian protections with the IUCN protected area categories. The 1991 fisheries management act and the 1999 environmental protection act remain the underlying legislation through which the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is managed.
Biological data relating to the territory at this time was limited, and especially so beyond the territorial waters. Some data was available on demersal fish and echinoderms from surveys carried out by the Aurora Australis in the 1990s. Many samples taken during the existence of the research station were never studied in detail. An annual demersal fish survey began in 1997, carried out by commercial vessels and aimed at assessing fish stocks in waters up to deep. These benthic trawl surveys are carried out in partnership with the AAD and AFMA.
An initial marine reserve proposal was released in 2000. For the purposes of consultation, the HIMI Stakeholder Group was created, bringing together the Australian Antarctic Division, fishing industry representatives, and non-governmental organisations. The group reached a general agreement on the initial proposal, but disputes over four areas (Aurora Bank, part of the Western Trough, part of the Northeastern Plateau, and part of Shell Bank) led to these being designated as "conservation zones" rather than full parts of the marine reserve. The conservation zone designation provided a temporary level of protection, pending assessment of whether such areas should be fully or partially incorporated into the reserve.
Establishment
The formal proposal was laid in 2001, and the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve was officially designated in October 2002. At , it was at the time the world's largest marine protected area. (It was later surpassed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Chagos Marine Protected Area, and South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf Marine Protected Area.) Fishing was banned in the reserve, although some fishing still occurred in the conservation zones. The reserve was designed to include parts of all biophysical features, as well as connecting pathways between them.
The new reserve was notable for the cooperation between government, scientists, and industry in its establishment. It was primarily focused on areas shallower than , in part because these were the areas for which more information was available. The government and fisheries industry conducted further joint research in the years following the reserve's establishment. This research suggested the reserve contained representative samples of the different benthic communities of the territory. The first dedicated research survey took place across 2003 and 2004. This saw research on the interactions between land-based predators and the marine ecosystem, as well as research into mesopelagic fish. Many benthic surveys in the years immediately following the reserve's establishment were targeted at the conservation zones, to determine what areas should be added to the reserve proper.
The RV Aurora Australis brought scientists to Heard Island in 2008. A tourist ship visited the area in 2012, carrying some scientists. RV Investigator brought researchers in 2015 and 2016, although there were no landings on the island. 2016 saw the most recent private landing on the island. RV Investigator made another research trip in 2020, again with no landings.
The first management plan, which had come into effect on 24 August 2005, expired on 23 August 2012. In March 2014, the reserve was expanded to , or 17% of the EEZ. This expansion incorporated of the formerly designated conservation zones, with the remaining conservation zone becoming a normal part of the fisheries zone. A new management plan was approved in October that year. A 2016 survey mapped 22% of the reserve's seafloor.
In 2023, the Australian government expanded the Macquarie Island Marine Park, and commissioned a scientific report which recommended a similar expansion for the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve. In early October, the government announced an expansion would occur. The 2014 management plan expired on 14 October 2024. On 5 December 2024, a legislative amendment to expand the reserve was signed, coming into effect on 24 January 2025. Absent a new management plan, transitional arrangements came into place following the expansion under which the approach of the previous plan would be observed until a new management plan was formulated. This expanded reserve was divided into multiple zones. The original reserve was maintained as a fully protected area at the level of IUCN Category I. The added to the reserve consisted of protected at an IUCN Category II level, and protected at an IUCN Category IV level.