Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Silver Plains
Silver Plains declared Fish Habitat Area
Location
250 km north-west of Cooktown between Cape Sidmouth and Claremont Point.
Plan number
Size
52,125 ha
Management level
A
Declaration dates
19 November 1983 (original declaration)
1 July 2010 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries and extended seaward)
Local government
Cook Shire Council
Management features
Protection and conservation of barramundi habitat, particularly wetland nursery habitats; also protects important juvenile tiger prawn and mud crab habitat; Department of Primary Industries survey stations at Cape Sidmouth, Nesbit River, Massy Creek and Claremont Point supported original declaration; seaward boundary aligned with trawl closure boundary in 2010.
Habitat values
Closed Rhizophora and open Avicennia along seaward edge; extensive seagrass beds; sandy foreshores.
Fisheries values
Barramundi; blue salmon; grey mackerel; queenfish; grunter; mangrove jack; tiger prawns; mud crabs; commercial, recreational and Indigenous fisheries significance.
Other benefits
Important hawksbill turtle habitat; large area of inshore reef associated with Massy Creek; adjoins brackish water swamp system behind beaches.