Montebello Islands returned to WA control

The Montebello Islands, north-west of Dampier, are being returned to Western Australian control after more than 15 years of negotiation with the Commonwealth.

Environment Minister Bob Pearce said the group of more than 100 islands had now been reserved as a conservation park.

The islands achieved international notoriety in 1952 when the British, in an operation code-named Hurricane, detonated an atomic weapon in a bay off Trimouille Island.

Two further atomic tests were carried out in 1956 on Trimouille and Alpha islands.

The islands and their surrounding waters have been a prohibited area under Commonwealth control since the British tests.

At Trimouille Island today, Federal Minister for Primary Industries and Energy Simon Crean officially passed control of the islands to the Western Australian Government.

The Montebello Islands conservation park will be managed by the Department of Conservation and Land Management.

Mr Crean said as part of the hand-over, the Federal Government would give the State more than $300,000 to help manage the islands.

This would include funds to eradicate introduced rats and cats and for biological surveys of the islands and surrounding waters.

Once the feral animals have been eradicated, CALM will re-introduce endangered native animals to the islands.

Mr Pearce said the return of the islands and their reservation as a conservation park signalled the end of the prohibited area status and was the culmination of many years of hard work by State and Federal Government agencies.

"In 1975, the EPA recommended that the islands be reserved for conservation and Cabinet approved the proposal the following year," Mr Pearce said.

"Since then, the EPA has co-ordinated efforts to regain the islands for WA.

"The issue of residual radiation has been extensively reviewed and all studies have concluded there is no radiation hazard to short-term visitors.

"However, the State will continue monitoring and the results will be reported to the Radiological Council."

Despite the introduction of rats and cats to the islands and the disturbance caused by the weapons testing program, the islands and their surrounding waters support a diverse range of plants and animals.

There are more than 100 plant species on the islands, including mangrove stands; 27 reptile species and at least 50 bird species visit or live on the islands.

The shallow waters around the northern islands also provide protected mating areas for Green Turtles and the beaches are used by Green and Hawksbill Turtles for nesting during Summer.

Mr Pearce said the Pilbara community had long been seeking access to the islands for recreation purposes, and with the islands becoming a conservation park, this would be permitted.

However, he said part of Trimouille island and the actual test sites - which would be maintained as historical sites - would be restricted to day-visits only.