Great Sandy Strait

Description

The strait extends north from Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay. The Mary River enters the strait at River Heads. It covers an area of 932 km². Tourism 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 is sailed on the Great Sandy Strait.

Environment

A complex landscape of mangroves, sandbanks, intertidal sand, mud islands, salt marshes and seagrass beds, the Strait is an important habitat for breeding fish, crustaceans, dugongs, dolphins and marine turtles. Migrating humpback whales use the calms waters of the strait to rest for a few days between August and November. An analysis of commercial catch data in the area between 1988 and 2003 revealed a significant reduction in fish stock. The campaign against the Traveston Crossing Dam 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, Poona National Park and Great Sandy Conservation Park.

Birds

The lower part of Great Sandy Strait was listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international significance in 1999. The area is also an important roosting site for CAMBA and JAMBA listed species. Some 806 km² of the strait has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because it supports about 120,000 non-breeding waders, including over 1% of the global populations of bar-tailed godwits, eastern curlews, great knots, grey-tailed tattlers, lesser sand plovers, pied oystercatchers, red-necked stints and red-capped plovers, as well as small numbers of the range-restricted mangrove honeyeater.