Kauri Creek declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

  • Kauri Creek or Tin Can Inlet, north of Tin Can Bay, 34km south-east of Maryborough
  • Plan number: FHA-055 (Revision 1)
  • Gympie Regional Council and Fraser Coast Regional Council

Size and management level

  • 6,478 ha – Management A.

Declaration history

  • 24 January 1976: Original declaration.
  • 28 March 2008: Redeclaration:
    • redeclared to cadastral boundaries.
  • 29 March 2024: Redeclaration, effective from 21 May 2024 revised to:
    • exclude some areas of non-tidal land
    • exclude the areas within 30m of the public boat ramps or boating infrastructure in Kauri Creek, at the Log Dump Camping Area and Bullock Point
    • extend the upstream boundary of the Fish Habitat Area in Kauri Creek to align with the outer boundary and the Great Sandy Marine Park.

Management features

  • Tin Can Inlet supports at least 39 fish species of commercial, recreational or Indigenous importance.
  • Seagrass meadows on shallow tidal flats at the creek mouth.
  • Juvenile prawn habitat.

Habitat values

  • Extensive mangroves (Avicennia, Ceriops and Aegialitis) and saltmarsh along the estuary
  • Extensive seagrass meadows in Tin Can Inlet with 7 seagrass species recorded in the Great Sandy Strait
  • Mosaics of mangrove, seagrass and coral reef provide habitat for a high diversity of fish.

Fisheries values

  • Commercial net and crustacean fisheries.
  • Recreational and Indigenous fishing.
  • Tropical and temperate fish species.
  • Species:
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Garfish
    • Grunter
    • Luderick
    • Mangrove jack
    • Sea mullet
    • Tailor
    • Whiting
    • Eastern king prawns.

Unique features

  • Part of the most extensive seagrass area in south-east Queensland.
  • Lies within the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar Wetland.

Other values

  • Important dugong habitat.
  • Coral reefs support scribbled angelfish (Chaetodontoplus duboulayi) and müllers butterflyfish (Chelmon mulleri) at the southern end of their range.
  • Small areas of hard and soft coral around Pannikin and Ida Islands.

References

  • Beumer, J and Halliday, I 1994, Effects of habitat disturbance on coastal fisheries resources of Tin Can Bay/Great Sandy Strait, Report to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
  • 2016: Enhanced management of Ramsar site wetlands within the Great Sandy Strait catchments.
  • Kirkwood, J M and Hooper, J N A 2004, Technical paper: Burnett Mary regional assessment coastal marine biodiversity, Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management.
  • Lee Long, W J and O’Reilly, W K 2007, Ecological character description for the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar site July 2007, Report for the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.
  • Mackenzie, J and Duke, N 2011, State of the Mangroves Report 2008 – Condition assessment of the tidal wetlands of the Burnett Mary Region, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane.
  • McKenzie, L J 2000, Seagrass communities of Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Strait December 1998, Queensland Department of Primary Industries Information Series.