Great Sandy Strait
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n sand passage estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
separating mainland Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, from World Heritage
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
listed Fraser Island
Fraser Island, Queensland
Fraser Island is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately north of Brisbane. Its length is about and its width is approximately . It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at...
.
Description
The strait extends north from Tin Can BayTin Can Bay, Queensland
Tin Can Bay is a town in south east Queensland, Australia. The seaside town is located on a deep but narrow sheltered inlet in the Gympie Local Government Area, 218 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane...
to Hervey Bay. The Mary River
Mary River (Queensland)
The Mary River is a river system in South East Queensland, Australia. The river rises at Booroobin in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, west of Landsborough...
enters the strait at River Heads
River Heads, Queensland
River Heads is a town in Queensland, Australia, 18 km south of the city of Hervey Bay. The town is built on a narrow peninsula surrounded by the Great Sandy Strait , the mouth of the Mary River and the mouth of the Susan River to the west...
. It covers an area of 932 km2. Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and commercial fishing are the two main industries that are active within the Strait. Boating and fishing are also pursued for recreation. Each year in June the Bay to Bay yacht race
Bay to Bay yacht race
The Bay to Bay trailable yacht race is an annual sailing event held on the Queen's Birthday long weekend each year, in the Great Sandy National Park. The race is sailed from Tin Can Bay, at the southern end of the Great Sandy Strait, and Hervey Bay, at the northern end, with an overnight stop on...
is sailed on the Great Sandy Strait.
Environment
Seagrass
Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , all in the order Alismatales , which grow in marine, fully saline environments.-Ecology:...
beds, the Strait is an important habitat for breeding fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, dugong
Dugong
The dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...
s, dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s and marine turtles
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
. An analysis of commercial
Commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions...
catch data in the area between 1988 and 2003 revealed a significant reduction in fish stock
Fish stock
Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish, for which intrinsic parameters are the only significant factors in determining population dynamics, while extrinsic factors are considered to be insignificant.-The stock concept:All species have geographic limits to their...
. The campaign against the Traveston Crossing Dam
Traveston Crossing Dam
Traveston Crossing Dam was a proposed water project that was initiated by the government of Queensland, Australia, in 2006 as a result of a prolonged drought situation which saw South-East Queensland's dam catchment area receive record-low rain...
included claims the dam would have a significant environmental impact on the Great Sandy Strait. Other protected areas within or adjacent to the Strait include Great Sandy National Park
Great Sandy National Park
Great Sandy is a coastal national park and suburb in Queensland, Australia. The park features untouched beaches, large sand dunes, heathlands, rainforests, swamps, creeks, freshwater lakes and mangrove forests....
, Poona National Park
Poona National Park
Poona National Park is located in Queensland, Australia, 210 km north of Brisbane and 12 km from Maryborough. It is a wildlife refuge with some endangered trees and animals . Mostly marshy and forested between rivers and the sea, this area has no designated walking trails . Nearby is a small...
and Great Sandy Conservation Park.
Birds
The lower part of Great Sandy Strait was listed under the Ramsar ConventionRamsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
as a wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
of international significance in 1999. The area is also an important roosting site for CAMBA
China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement
The China–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement is a treaty between Australia and China to minimise harm to the major areas used by migratory birds which migrate between the two countries. Towra Point Nature Reserve plays a role in the agreement, being an area in Australia used by migratory birds...
and JAMBA
Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement
The Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement is a treaty between Australia and Japan to minimise harm to the major areas used by birds which migrate between the two countries. Towra Point Nature Reserve plays a role in the agreement, being an area in Australia used by migratory birds...
listed species. Some 806 km2 of the strait has been identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
as an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
because it supports about 120,000 non-breeding waders, including over 1% of the global populations of Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
The Bar-tailed Godwit is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae, which breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra mainly in the Old World, and winters on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World...
s, Eastern Curlews, Great Knot
Great Knot
The Great Knot, Calidris tenuirostris, is a small wader. It is the largest of the calidrid species.Their breeding habitat is tundra in northeast Siberia. They nest on the ground laying about four eggs in a ground scrape. They are strongly migratory wintering on coasts in southern Asia through to...
s, Grey-tailed Tattler
Grey-tailed Tattler
The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes , is a small shorebird.- Description :...
s, Lesser Sand Plover
Lesser Sand Plover
The Lesser Sand Plover, Charadrius mongolus, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The spelling is commonly given as Lesser Sandplover, but the official British Ornithologists' Union spelling is Lesser Sand Plover....
s, Pied Oystercatcher
Pied Oystercatcher
The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird native to Australia and commonly found on its coastline. The similar South Island Pied Oystercatcher The Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus longirostris, is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading...
s, Red-necked Stint
Red-necked Stint
The Red-necked Stint is a small migratory wader.- Description :These birds are among the smallest of waders, very similar to the Little Stint, Calidris minuta, with which they were once considered conspecific...
s and Red-capped Plover
Red-capped Plover
The Red-capped Plover , also known as the Red-capped Dotterel, is a small plover. It breeds in Australia. The species is closely related to the Kentish Plover, Javan Plover and White-fronted Plover.-Description:Red-capped Plovers have white underparts and forehead...
s, as well as small numbers of the range-restricted Mangrove Honeyeater
Mangrove Honeyeater
The Mangrove Honeyeater is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species was once considered to be conspecific with the Varied Honeyeater, but it is now treated as a separate species...
.
See also
- Hinchinbrook ChannelHinchinbrook ChannelThe Hinchinbrook Channel is a channel between the Australian mainland and Hinchinbrook Island. It runs between Oyster Point, just south of Cardwell, and Lucinda in Far North Queensland. The Aboriginal name for the channel is Bolan Milbirmi. The Herbert River flows into the channel's southern...
- List of Ramsar sites in Australia
- Pumicestone PassagePumicestone PassagePumicestone Passage, also known as the Pumicestone Channel, is a narrow waterway between Bribie Island and the mainland in Queensland, Australia...