Great Oyster Bay is a broad and sheltered bay on the east coast of
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, Australia which opens onto the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...
. The
Tasman Highway
The Tasman Highway (or A3) is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. Like the Midland Highway, it connects the major cities of Hobart and Launceston – however it takes a different route, via the north-eastern and eastern coasts of the state. The ...
runs close to the West Coast of the bay with views of the granite peaks of
the Hazards and
Schouten Island
Schouten Island (formerly Schouten's Isle), part of the Schouten Island Group, is an island with an area of approximately lying close to the eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia, located south of the Freycinet Peninsula and is a part of Frey ...
of the
Freycinet Peninsula
The Freycinet Peninsula is a large peninsula located on the eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The peninsula is located north of Schouten Island and is contained within the Freycinet National Park.
The locality of Freycinet is in the local go ...
which are incorporated in the
Freycinet National Park
Freycinet National Park is a national park on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 125 km northeast of Hobart. It occupies a large part of the Freycinet Peninsula, named after French navigator Louis de Freycinet, and Schouten Island. Foun ...
.
Towns on the bay include
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
and
Coles Bay.
At the north of the bay the floodplains of the Aspley and Swan rivers has created
Moulting Lagoon, an important
Ramsar-listed wetland, much of which lies in the
Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve. Nearby is the
Friendly Beaches Reserve
Friendly Beaches Reserve is a 140 ha coastal nature reserve in eastern Tasmania, Australia, 190 km north-east of Hobart and 180 km south-east of Launceston. It is located on the north-east side of the Freycinet Peninsula, bordering the Freyc ...
owned and managed by
Bush Heritage Australia
Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Heal ...
(BHA).
History
Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by
Tasmanian Aborigines
The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
. From autumn through winter various bands of the
Oyster Bay Tribe congregated around the coastal areas to harvest shellfish and marine vegetables until the end of July, when swans and ducks arrived in the lagoons and riverine areas to lay their eggs and raise their young. In August most of the bands moved up the Little Swanport and Prosser Rivers to the Eastern Marshes to hunt birds, kangaroos and wallabies. The
Linetemairrener people lived at the lagoon year round.
Shore-based bay whaling activity took place in
Coles Bay and other locations in the area in the 19th century.
Activities
Activities include
sea kayak
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spray deck. They trade off the man ...
ing in the sheltered waters on the east side of the bay from Coles Bay exploring the small and isolated beaches on the Freycinet Peninsula.
Recreational fishing
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
is also an activity in the bay with
flathead, Australian
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
trevally
The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only famil ...
,
trumpeter
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...
and
squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
sometimes caught.
Dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s and
Australian fur seal
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal.
Description
The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. ...
s can sometimes be seen and
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
s often visit the bay in winter.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
has been practiced in the area since the early 1970s. Species cultivated commercially include
Pacific oyster
The Pacific oyster, Japanese oyster, or Miyagi oyster (''Magallana gigas''), is an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia. It has become an introduced species in North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand.
Etymology
The genus ''Mag ...
s, native oysters,
mussels
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,0 ...
,
scallops
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famil ...
,
abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...
and
sea urchins
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
in the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage. An initial marine farming lease set up in 1978 in Pelican Bay, with additional leases granted for shellfish culture since then in the northern section of Great Oyster Bay and the Swan River.
Infestations
Infestations of
rice grass has been reported by oyster farmers from
Little Swanport in 2008 with action being taken to eliminate this ecological threat in the area.
Oyster farmers winning against water weeds
' ABC News, May 6, 2008. Accessed October 26, 2008.
Access to most of the
Friendly Beaches Reserve
Friendly Beaches Reserve is a 140 ha coastal nature reserve in eastern Tasmania, Australia, 190 km north-east of Hobart and 180 km south-east of Launceston. It is located on the north-east side of the Freycinet Peninsula, bordering the Freyc ...
is restricted due to the threat of contamination by the soil pathogen
cinnamon fungus.
References
{{Authority control
East Coast Tasmania
Bays of Tasmania
Whaling stations in Australia