Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Hinchinbrook
Hinchinbrook declared Fish Habitat Area
Location
Hinchinbrook Channel, north of Lucinda.
Plan number
Size
12,268 ha
Management level
A
Declaration dates
10 June 1971 (original declaration)
19 November 1983 (redeclared to clarify boundaries)
12 August 1999 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries)
Local government
Hinchinbrook Shire Council
Management features
Provides food and shelter for adult and juvenile fish; cooperative management with Traditional Owners.
Habitat values
Extensive stands of mangroves including Avicennia, Bruguiera, Rhizophora and Ceriops; patchy saltmarsh associated with estuary; extensive seagrass beds recorded; deep water channels; island and bank shoals; deltaic mangrove systems.
Fisheries values
Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing grounds; major focus of regional recreational fishing; significant banana prawn nursery area; barramundi; blue salmon; bream; estuary cod; grey mackerel; grunter; mangrove jack; queenfish; school mackerel; whiting; blue-legged king prawns; tiger prawns; aquaculture brood and culture stock; banana prawns.
Unique features
The largest tropical estuary of the north-eastern coastal zone; the channel supports the most southerly known occurrence of the Nypa palm, Nypa fruticans.
Other values
Important area for fisheries and fish habitat research.
Further references
Lawrence M, Sully D, Beumer J and Couchman D, 2009, Targeted collection of inventory data for wetlands fish barriers in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment, Final report to the Australian Government, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.