Raine Island
Raines Islet on the Great Barrier Reef by Edwin Augustus Porcher, painted 1844
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| Geography | |
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| Coordinates | 11°35′25.75″S 144°2′7.43″E / 11.5904861°S 144.0353972°ECoordinates: 11°35′25.75″S 144°2′7.43″E / 11.5904861°S 144.0353972°E |
| Area | 32 ha (79 acres) |
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Australia
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| State | Queensland |
| Protected Area | Great Barrier Reef Marine Park |
Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay that is 32 hectares in total area and is situated on the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef, approximately 620 km (390 mi) north-north-west of Cairns in Queensland, Australia, about 120 km east-north-east of Cape Grenville, Cape York Peninsula. Raine Island is the site of the oldest European structure in tropical Australia, a stone beacon built in 1844, and harbours the world's largest remaining population of green turtles (Chelonia mydas). An important environmental icon, the island is totally protected from public access. It got its name from being shaped like a rain drop.
Raine Island is a vegetated coral cay dominated by low herbaceous annual vegetation (Batianoff et al. 1993). The cay is composed of a central core of phosphate rock surrounded by sand and extensive fringing reefs. It lies just off the eastern edge of the continental shelf, next to a shipping channel known as the Raine Island Entrance and Pandora entrance. The entrance allows shipping to enter the water of the Great Barrier Reef.
Raine Island is the largest and most important green sea turtle nesting area in the world, with up to 18,000 females nesting on the small coral sand cay in one season. The turtle population can vary from a figure of less than 1,000 to more than 10,000 and has been found to correlate with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The waters surrounding Raine Island are so active that seeing over 250 turtles during an hour in the water is common. The nesting site has been active on the island for more than 1,000 years, making it the longest known marine turtle rookery anywhere in the world.
84 bird species have been observed on the island. The island holds special significance as a seabird breeding and roosting site. It is considered as the most significant tropical seabird breeding site in the Great Barrier Reef. The Raine Island National Park (Scientific), which includes not only Raine Island (21 ha) but also the neighbouring Moulter (8.6 ha) and MacLennan (2.4 ha) Cays, has been identified by BirdLife International as a 32 ha Important Bird Area because it supports, or has supported, over 1% of the world populations of nesting masked and brown boobies, common and black noddies, as well as regionally significant populations of herald petrels, red-footed boobies and red-tailed tropicbirds.
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