Abrolhos Islands

With our first Abrolhos Trip now well on its way it seemed only fitting to have a post about the Abrolhos Islands.

The Houtman Abrolhos (often informally called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia and it lies about eighty kilometres (50 mi) west of Geraldton, Western Australia.

It is the southernmost true coral reef in the Indian Ocean, and one of the highest latitude reef systems in the world.

It is one of the world's most important seabird breeding sites, and is the centre of Western Australia's largest single species fishery, the Western Rock Lobster fishery.

It has a small seasonal population of fishermen, and a limited number of tourists are permitted for day trips, but most of the land area is off limits as conservation habitat.

It is well known as the site of numerous shipwrecks, the most famous being the Dutch ships Batavia, which was wrecked in 1629, and Zeewijk, wrecked in 1727.

According to the surviving historical record, the first sighting of the Houtman Abrolhos by Europeans was by the Dutch VOC ships Dordrecht and Amsterdam in 1619, only three years after Dirk Hartog made the first authenticated sighting of what is now Western Australia, and only 13 years after the first authenticated voyage to Australia, that of the Duyfken in 1606. Discovery of the islands was credited to Frederick de Houtman, Captain-General of the Dordrecht, as it was Houtman who later wrote of the discovery in a letter to the directors of the Dutch East India Company:

"On the 29th do. deeming ourselves to be in an open sea, we shaped our course north-by-east. At noon we were in 29° 32' S. Lat.; at night about three hours before daybreak, we again unexpectedly came upon a low-lying coast, a level, broken country with reefs all round it. We saw no high land or mainland, so that this shoal is to be carefully avoided as very dangerous to ships that wish to touch at this coast. It is fully ten miles in length, lying in 28° 46."

The word Abrolhos is of Portuguese origin, making the Houtman Abrolhos one of only two Australian places with a Portuguese name, the other being Pedra Branca in Tasmania.

At last count, a total of 389 species of fish have been recorded from the Houtman Abrolhos. 16 species occur in very large numbers; in decreasing order of abundance, these are:

• Pomacentrus milleri (Miller's Damsel)
• Scarus schlegeli (Schlegel's Parrotfish)
• Stethojulis strigiventer (Stripebelly Wrasse)
• Coris auricularis (Western King Wrasse)
• Kyphosus cornelii (Western Buffalo Bream)
• Choerodon rubescens (Baldchin Groper)
• Chromis westaustralis (West Australian Puller)
• Thalassoma lutescens (Green Moon Wrasse)
• Scarus ghobban (Blue-barred Orange Parrotfish)
• Abudefduf sexfasciatus (Scissortail Sergeant)
• Thalassoma lunare (Moon Wrasse)
• Stegastes obreptus (Western Gregory)
• Halichoeres brownfieldi (Brownfield's Wrasse)
• Amblygobius phalaena (White-barred Goby)
• Asterropteryx semipunctatus (Starry Goby)
• Anampses geographicus (Scribbled Wrasse)

The Houtman Abrolhos also maintains a breeding population of Australian Sea Lions, probably numbering between 75 and 100 and these have been a favourite for our customers as well as the fishing on our trips.

MC.