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Help Save Fraser Island’s Unique Marine Environment! |
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ourgreatsandy.com Celebrating and Defending the Great Sandy Strait
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PROPOSED MARY RIVER DAM
IMPACTS ON THE GREAT SANDY
ABOUT THE GREAT SANDY
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Website created by Elisabeth Berry for 2Berries Communications. Copyright © 2008 ourgreatsandy.com. All rights reserved. |
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Site Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands — Great Sandy Strait
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Section 23: Conservation measures taken Areas in the north and east of the wetland are protected in Woody and Great Sandy National Parks. Almost all of Fraser Island is a national park. Most of the eastern side of Great Sandy Strait is in the Fraser Island World Heritage Area which extends 500 metres seaward of the high water mark. Great Sandy Conservation Park (previously Kauri Creek, Turkey Island and South Head Mary River Environmental Parks) protects areas in the central part of the strait. Inskip Point on the eastern side of Tin Can Inlet is a declared Recreation Area, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment. Wetland areas on the south-eastern side of Tin Can Inlet are protected in Great Sandy National Park (Cooloola section).
All marine plants (including mangroves, seagrasses and saltwater couch) are protected under the Fisheries Act 1994. Five Fish Habitat Areas have been declared under the fisheries legislation. The Susan River and Maroom Fish Habitat Areas combined protect (in part) tidal lands of approximately 28,000 ha in the centre of Great Sandy Strait, while Kauri Creek and Tin Can Bay Fish Habitat Areas protect significant tidal lands of approximately 7,600 ha in the south of the Strait. The Fraser Island Fish habitat Area protects (in part) tidal lands of approximately 18,000 ha. All of Great Sandy Strait is closed to otter trawling (drag netting).
The entire area is contained in the Great Sandy Region for which a management plan emphasizing ecologically sustainable use and nature conservation has been developed and is being implemented. Great Sandy Strait is on the Register of the National Estate. The Wide Bay Military Training Area (Commonwealth Department of Defence) has an Environmental Management Program in place, and forestry operators and other industries are developing Codes of Practice and Environmental Management Plans to minimize any offsite impacts.
Information courtesy of the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH), P.O. Box 155 Brisbane, Albert Street QLD, 4002
¨ Full Site Information Sheet available at: www.wetlands.org/reports/ris/5AU050en.pdf ... click here
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The following is an extract from a Site Information Sheet compiled by the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH), Brisbane, in 1999. It outlines some of the legislation under which the Great Sandy Strait is managed, and the ways in which the State Government has sought to minimise further impacts on the ecology of the region. |
