Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Silver Plains

Silver Plains declared Fish Habitat Area

Silver Plains declared Fish Habitat Area

Location

250 km north-west of Cooktown between Cape Sidmouth and Claremont Point.

Plan number

FHA-057 (PDF, 281.1KB)  

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.