Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Trinity Inlet

Location

Trinity Inlet, Cairns.

Plan number

FHA-003 (PDF, 3.2MB) (revision 3)

Size

7,164 ha
5,989 ha management A area
1,175 ha management B area

Management level

A and B

Declaration dates

23 September 1989 (original declaration of Admiralty Island and Trinity Inlet Reserves)
23 July 1998 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries and Admiralty and Trinity FHAs merged as Trinity Inlet FHA)
21 September 2001 (redeclared to remove land included in error)
19 December 2003 (redeclared to address management issues)
7 December 2018 (redeclared to amend exclusion zone around navigation channel and remove terrestrial lands from within the outer boundary)

Local government

Cairns Regional Council

Management features

Conservation of fisheries in close proximity to the major development site of Cairns; buffer zone from rural/urban development; cooperative management with Traditional Owners; long history of fisheries and fish habitat research and monitoring in the area.

Habitat values

Extensive mangrove zones including Rhizophora, Avicennia and Ceriops; seagrass beds off the esplanade; patchy areas of saltmarsh; intertidal flats.

Fisheries values

Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing; intense recreational crab fishery; important nursery area for several species of fish and penaeid prawns; barramundi; blue salmon; bream; estuary cod; flathead; garfish; grey mackerel; grunter; mangrove jack; queenfish; whiting; tiger prawns; mud crabs.

Unique features

One of only two areas on east coast of Queensland where chenopod (succulent shrub) species Pachycomia tenuis has been reported.

Other values

None presently identified.

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.