Ashmore & Cartier Islands Tourism

Cartier Island is located in the West Sahul region of the Indian Ocean at 12°31'50.8" S, 123°33'18.8" E. The island is about 350 km off Australia's Kimberley coast, 115 km south of the Indonesian island of Roti and 45 km from Ashmore Reef.

The surrounding reef flat rises steeply from the surrounding depths. Cartier Island is an unvegetated sand cay that lies at the centre of the reef. The Cartier Island Marine Reserve includes Cartier Island and the surrounding reef, covering an area within a 4 NM radius of the centre of the island (167 square kilometres) including the substrata to a depth of 1000 metres below the seafloor.

The area within 4 NM of Cartier Island includes a variety of habitats that interact to maintain the ecosystem around Cartier Island and contribute to the maintenance of other reefs, banks and islands in the region. Some of these major habitats include the reef flat, the reef edge, a small submerged pinnacle known as Wave Governor Bank, and the shelf flat surrounding the pinnacles including a portion of Pasco Passage to the north of Cartier Island.

Cartier Reef is considered an important biological stepping stone, fulfilling a role in linking the reef systems of Indonesia and the Philippines to those along the West Australian coasts.

---

Ashmore & Cartier Islands Tourism