Balban Dara Guya (Leekes Creek) declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

  • Leekes Creek is on Great Keppel Island, 50km north-east of Rockhampton and 22km south-east of Yeppoon
  • Plan number: FHA-076
  • Livingstone Shire Council

Size and management level

Total size: 876 ha:

  • 875 ha – Management A
  • 1 ha – Management B.

Declaration history

  • 30 September 2016: Original declaration.

Management features

  • Management A area is in place to protect the essential and interconnecting habitats of Leekes Creek, Half Tide Rocks, Passage Rocks and Big Peninsula.
  • Management B areas are in place to provide for future limited infrastructure for the Keppel Island First Nations peoples, the Woppaburra.

Habitat values

  • Diverse array of essential fish habitats
  • Rocky structure
  • Intertidal flats
  • Coral
  • Mangrove communities and saltmarsh
  • Leekes Creek is likely to be an important spawning area in summer and an important migratory pathway for fish using offshore reefs.

Fisheries values

  • Conservation of commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing grounds.
  • Species:
    • Barramundi
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Garfish
    • Mangrove jack
    • Sea mullet
    • Golden trevally
    • Moses perch
    • Spotted javelinfish
    • Whiting
    • Penaeid prawns
    • Mud crabs
    • Blue swimmer crabs.

Unique features

  • The only Fish Habitat Area declared around a continental Great Barrier Reef island.
  • Lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Other values

  • Protects important cultural heritage sites within its boundaries.

References