Cartier Island

Cartier Island is an uninhabited and unvegetated sand cay in a platform reef in the Timor Sea, north of Australia and south of Indonesia.

Cartier Island is completely unvegetated except for the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii, which grows in pockets of sand within the reef, and may be exposed at low tide.

[3] Cartier Island is within an area subject to a Memorandum of Understanding (known as the MOU Box) signed by Australia and Indonesia in 1974 and reviewed in 1989, which provided for continued Indonesian traditional fishing within limits.

[4] The Cartier Island Marine Park covers an area within 4 nautical miles (7 km) of the centre of the reef which is protected as a Sanctuary Zone (IUCN Ia).

[5] In 2003, environmental authorities closed maritime access to the island and its surrounding reef to build up depleted fish stocks and for safety reasons.