Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Kauri Creek
Fish habitats of Kauri Creek
Location
Kauri Creek/Tin Can Inlet, north of Tin Can Bay, 34 km south-east of Maryborough.
Plan number
Size
6,435 ha
Management level
A
Declaration dates
24 January 1976 (original declaration)
28 March 2008 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries)
Local government
Gympie Regional Council/Fraser Coast Regional Council
Management features
Tin Can Bay supports at least 39 fish species of commercial, recreational or Indigenous importance; seagrass meadows on shallow tidal flats at creek mouth; juvenile prawn habitat.
Habitat values
Extensive mangroves (with Avicennia, Ceriops and Aegialitis) and saltmarsh along estuary; extensive seagrass meadows in Tin Can Inlet with seven 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; 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.
Other values
An 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.
Further 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 Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (in prep), Enhanced management of Ramsar site wetlands within the Great Sandy Strait. catchments, Final project report, Queensland Wetlands Program, Brisbane, Queensland.
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.
Mackenzie, J & 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.