Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Rodds Harbour

Location

Rodds Harbour, Turkey Beach/Tannum Sands and Pancake, Middle and Jenny Lind creeks, 20 km south of Gladstone.

Plan number

FHA-036 (PDF, 898.4KB)

Size

11,619 ha
11,432 ha management A area
187 ha management B area

Management level

A and B

Declaration dates

19 November 1983 (original declarations)
19 December 2003 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries and to combine Bustard, Rodds Harbour and Turkey declared FHAs)

Local government

Gladstone Regional Council

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 zones bordering estuaries with Avicennia, Aegialitis, Aegiceras, Osbornia and Rhizophora; samphire and claypan; Halophila and Zostera beds, Halodule beds associated with Pancake Creek; island banks; bar zone; channels; deltaic areas.

Fisheries values

Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing; barramundi; blue salmon; bream; estuary cod; flathead; grey mackerel; grunter; jewfish; king salmon; mangrove jack; queenfish; sea mullet; school mackerel; whiting; banana, endeavour and tiger prawns; mud crabs; marine aquarium fish.

Unique features

Important protected area and least disturbed marine environment from Tannum Sands to Round Hill Head; Rodds Harbour is one of two estuaries where Ceriops tagal var. tagal occurs; Pancake Creek is only area in region with Pemphis acidula and one of two with Hibiscus tileaceus; Jenny Lind Creek is only locality where Bruguiera gymnorhiza is locally common.

Other benefits

Loggerhead turtle nesting area, fringing rock and coral reef.

Information current as at September 2012.