Rodds Harbour declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

  • Rodds Harbour, Turkey Beach or Tannum Sands and Pancake, Middle and Jenny Lind creeks, 20km south of Gladstone
  • Plan number: FHA-036
  • Gladstone Regional Council

Size and management level

Total size: 11,619 ha:

  • 11,432 ha – Management A
  • 187 ha – Management B.

Declaration history

  • 19 November 1983: Original declaration.
  • 19 December 2003: Redeclaration:
    • to cadastral boundaries
    • to combine Bustard, Rodds Harbour, and Turkey declared Fish Habitat Areas.

Management features

  • Conservation, protection and management of essential fish habitat.
  • Important juvenile fish and prawn habitat.
  • Important mud crab recruitment area.
  • Important area for research.

Habitat values

  • Extensive mangrove forests (Avicennia, Aegialitis, Aegiceras, Osbornia and Rhizophora) bordering estuaries
  • Saltmarsh (Samphire) and claypan
  • Seagrass (Halophila, Zostera and Halodule)
  • Fringing rock and coral reef within Pancake Creek
  • Island banks
  • Bar zone
  • Channels
  • Deltaic areas.

Fisheries values

  • Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing.
  • Species:
    • Barramundi
    • Blue salmon
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Grey mackerel
    • Grunter
    • Jewfish
    • King salmon
    • Mangrove jack
    • Queenfish
    • Sea mullet
    • School mackerel
    • Whiting
    • Banana prawns
    • Endeavour prawns
    • Tiger prawns
    • Mud crabs
    • Marine aquarium fish.

Unique features

  • An important protected area and the least disturbed marine environment from Tannum Sands to Round Hill Head.
  • Rodds Harbour is one of 2 estuaries where yellow mangrove (Ceriops tagal) occurs.
  • Pancake Creek is the only area in the region with the digging stick tree (Pemphis acidula) and one of 2 with the cotton tree (Hibiscus tileaceus).
  • Jenny Lind Creek is the only locality where orange mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorhiza) is locally common.
  • Lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and Rodds Bay Dugong Protection Area.

Other values

  • Loggerhead turtle nesting area.
  • Land and sea Country is important to the Bailai, Gurang, Gooreng Gooreng and Taribelang Bunda peoples.