Tasman Island

Tasman Island

The Tasman Island circa 1987
Tasman Island

Location in Tasmania

Etymology Abel Tasman
Geography
Location Tasman Sea
Coordinates 43°14′15″S 148°00′10″E / 43.23750°S 148.00278°E / -43.23750; 148.00278Coordinates: 43°14′15″S 148°00′10″E / 43.23750°S 148.00278°E / -43.23750; 148.00278
Archipelago Tasman Island Group
Area 1.2 km2 (0.46 sq mi)
Administration
Australia
State Tasmania
Additional information
Time zone
 • Summer (DST)

The Tasman Island, part of the Tasman Island Group, is an oval island with an area of 1.2 square kilometres (0.46 sq mi), lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is located in the Tasman Sea, situated off the Tasman Peninsula and is contained within the Tasman National Park.

The island is a plateau surrounded by steep dolerite cliffs, with its highest point 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level (asl) and an average plateau height of 280 metres (920 ft) asl. It is the site of the Tasman Island Lighthouse and weather station, which has been automated since 1976 and unmanned since 1977.[1][2]

Flora and fauna

Plants

The island was once thickly forested. The forest has largely disappeared as a result of cutting the trees for firewood and of intense fires.[2] When the lighthouse was manned the keepers kept livestock, including cattle, sheep and draught horses, and maintained grassland for their grazing. Areas of grassland remain along with other vegetation communities of heathy scrub, regenerating scrub, sheoak woodland, sedgeland and coastal mosaic. An important plant present is the rare Cape Pillar Sheoak (Allocasuarina crassa).[3][4]

Birds

Tasman Island is a very important breeding site for fairy prions, with an estimated 300,000-700,000 pairs, making it the largest such colony in Tasmania, and possibly in Australia. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports over 1% of the world population of the species.[5] Other recorded breeding seabird species are little penguin (now extinct there as a breeding species), short-tailed shearwater and sooty shearwater. The swamp harrier has also bred on the island.[1][3]

The breeding seabirds were preyed on by a feral cat population estimated at about 50, feeding mainly on fairy prions and taking about 50,000 birds annually. The cats were eradicated by a baiting, trapping and hunting program carried out in May 2010.[6][3][7]

Other animals

Australian and New Zealand fur seals use the rocky shore as a haul-out site, and the latter species has bred there in small numbers. Humpback whales pass through the surrounding waters. Reptiles recorded from the island include the metallic skink, White's skink, spotted skink and she-oak skink. A notable invertebrate, so far recorded only from Tasman Island, is the cricket Tasmanoplectron isolatum.[1][3]

Climate

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; Halley, Vanessa (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Hobart: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X.
  2. 1 2 "Tasman Island Lighthouse". Lighthouses of Tasmania. Lighthouses of Australia Inc.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bryant, S.L.; and Shaw, J. (Eds). (2006). Tasman Island: 2005 flora and fauna survey. Hamish Saunders Memorial Trust, New Zealand and Biodiversity Conservation Branch, DPIW, Hobart, Nature Conservation Report Series 06/01. ISBN 9780724664276
  4. ↑ "Allocasuarina crassa" (PDF). Threatened Flora of Tasmania. Department of Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  5. ↑ "IBA: Tasman Island". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  6. ↑ "Feral cats eradicated from Tasman Island". News release. Parks and Wildlife, Tasmania. 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  7. ↑ Restoring the Natural Values of Tasman Island
  8. ↑ "Climate Statistics for Tasman Island Lighthouse". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Climate Statistics for Tasman Island". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
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