Tin Can Inlet declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

  • Parts of the upper reaches of Tin Can Inlet, 25 km south-east of Maryborough
  • Plan number: FHA-064 (Revision 1)
  • Gympie Regional Council

Size and management level

  • 1,436 ha Management A

Declaration history

  • 24 January 1976:
    • original declaration
  • 28 March 2008 redeclaration:
    • to cadastral boundaries
  • 29 March 2024 redeclaration, effective from 21 May 2024:
    • introduce an exclusion area near Seary’s Creek for the Rainbow Beach to Tin Can Bay power line and the associated access track

Management features

  • Conservation of commercial net fishing grounds
  • Fish and crustacean nursery areas

Habitat values

  • Extensive inshore seagrass meadows
  • Intertidal flats
  • Upper inlet contains brackish waters associated with wallum heath
  • Extensive mangrove zones (Avicennia, Ceriops and Aegialitis)
  • Saltmarsh along the estuary
  • Mosaics of mangrove, seagrass and coral reefs provide habitat for a high diversity of fish

Fisheries values

  • Tin Can Bay supports at least 39 fish species of commercial, recreational or Indigenous importance
  • Contains both tropical and temperate fish species
  • Species:
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Garfish
    • Grunter
    • Luderick
    • Mangrove jack
    • Sea mullet
    • Tailor
    • Whiting
    • Mud crabs
    • Eastern king prawns
    • Greasyback prawns

Unique features

  • The southern distributional limit of mangrove species for the club mangrove (Aegialitis annulata), cannonball mangrove (Xylocarpus granatum) and myrtle mangrove (Osbornia octodonta)
  • The Fish Habitat Area is adjacent to the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar Wetland

Other values

  • A habitat for the dugong
  • Coral reefs in the area support scribbled angelfish (Chaetodontoplus duboulayi) and müllers butterflyfish (Chelmon mulleri) at the southern end of their range
  • Areas of hard and soft coral

References

  • Beumer, J & 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.
  • Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing. 2016. Enhanced management of Ramsar site wetlands within the Great Sandy Strait catchments.
  • Kirkwood, J M & 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 & O’Reilly, W K 2007, Ecological character description for the Great Sandy Strait Ramsar site July 2007, Report for the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.
  • McKenzie, L J 2000, Seagrass communities of Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Strait December 1998, Queensland Department of Primary Industries Information Series.