The Moreton Bay Marine Park was established in 1992 to protect ecologically significant habitats in

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

. The marine park extends from

Caloundra Caloundra ( ) is a coastal town and the southernmost town in the Sunshine Coast Region in South East Queensland, Australia. Geography Caloundra is north of the Brisbane central business district. Caloundra is accessible from Landsborough ...

south to the southern tip of

South Stradbroke Island The South Stradbroke Island (Indigenous: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''South Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, south of Brisbane and forms the northern end of Gold Coast. The island ...

. The marine park's border extends up to the highest tidal mark and covers a total of 3,400 km2. The marine park provides protection to sensitive

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

sites near Tangalooma and

Flinders Reef Flinders Reef is a small isolated reef near Moreton Island, north-east of Cape Moreton in South East Queensland, Australia. It has the highest number of coral species of any subtropical reef system along Australia's east coast and is the neares ...

. It includes waterways such as

Coombabah Lake The Coombabah Lake Conservation Park is a conservation park that is an Important Wetland in Australia, located in the Gold Coast region of South East Queensland, Australia. Part of the Coomera River catchment, Lake Coombabah is a tidal lake at ...

, sheltered

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

s, open ocean,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

forests, swamps, marshes, tidal mudflats, sandflats and

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

beds. It is a temporary home to migrating shorebirds that inhabit wetlands.

Dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

s, whales and turtles swim in the waters of the bay. Six of the world's seven species of

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

s habitat the park. The marine park is managed by the

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) is a business division of the Department of Environment and Science within the Government of Queensland. The division’s primary concern is with the management and maintenance of protected areas ...

. In 1971, a total of 18 countries signed a Convention on Wetlands of International Significance. It was signed in Ramsar, a city in Iran, and came to be known as the Ramsar Convention, which aimed at stopping global loss of wetlands, and conservation and sustainable management of the remaining wetlands. Moreton Bay is among Australia's largest sites which is listed under the Ramsar Convention.

History

Commencing in 2008, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

has spent AU2$ million to create three

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

s within the marine park. One of these is Turner Reef, is site off the coast of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

(). From 1 March 2009, activities in the marine park are designated under the Marine Park Zoning Plan. 16% of the bay is protected in green zones or marine national park zones. This leaves 84% of the marine park available to anglers. The marine national park zones are classed as (

IUCN Category II IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

) while the remainder is classed as IUCN Category VI. In 2010, a comprehensive fish

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

was conducted within the park. 1,190 different fish species in total were found. Several new species were discovered. Mud discharged into bay from the Brisbane River during the

2010–2011 Queensland floods A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in November 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 90 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at ...

smothered many marine ecosystems with sediment.

Seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s found across the bay were especially exposed.

Marine Park Zoning Plan

There are four zones in Moreton Bay Marine Park. These are the Marine national park zone (green) which contain areas of high conservation value, Conservation park zone (yellow) allowing limited fishing and crabbing, Habitat protection (dark blue) zone for sensitive habitats with no trawling allowed and General use zone (light blue) allow activities such as trawling. The zones are patrolled by rangers. Fines of up to A$500 for fishing in the green zone have been issued.

Designated areas

There are nine types of designated areas in the marine park. These areas have been set aside so that specific issues that occur at specific locations can be properly managed. Examples of designated areas include Go slow areas to protect dugongs and turtles, No anchoring areas to protect sensitive reefs and Grey nurse shark areas designed to conserve the endangered shark species.

References

External links

* {{Official website, nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/moreton-bay IUCN Category II IUCN Category VI Marine parks of Queensland 1992 establishments in Australia Protected areas established in 1992 Moreton Bay

History

Marine Park Zoning Plan

Designated areas

See also

References

External links