Princess Charlotte Bay is a large bay on the east coast of Far North Queensland at the base of

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...

, 350 km north northwest of Cairns. Princess Charlotte Bay is a part of the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

and it is a habitat for the

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 ...

. Reefs in the bay are described as pristine. Barramundi habitat and associated wetlands exist in declared green zones which restrict

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 ...

History

The bay is in the traditional lands of the Bakanambia and Jeteneru people. The bay was named after Princess Charlotte of Wales by Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1815.Princess Charlotte Bay
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved on 10 June 2011. Princess Charlotte Bay and surrounds were devastated by the Mahina Cyclone of 1899 which destroyed all 100 ships moored there at the time. Other estimates suggest a lower figure of 82 boats destroyed. On the 4 March 1899, the entire North Queensland pearling fleet was in the bay where they regularly collected supplies and unloaded shells. Around 100 Aboriginals who were assisting survivors ashore and 307 men from the pearling fleet were drowned in Queensland's worst maritime disaster.

Geography

The most easterly point of the bay is

Cape Melville Cape Melville is a headland on the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. To its west lies Princess Charlotte Bay. It is part of the Cape Melville National Park. Cape Melville was named Stoney Cape in 1815 by Lieutenant Charles ...

. Also in this area is

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colo ...

, part of the Flinders Group. The bay's most westerly point is Claremont Point. Normanby, Bizant, North Kennedy, Marrett and Morehead rivers terminate in the bay. Marine fossils and old beach ridges have been discovered well inland along the river systems. This indicates the bay has been experiencing a gradual

infill In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an urban environment, usually open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any undeveloped land that is not on the urban ma ...

ing. During

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

s salt water inundates low areas for several kilometres inland. Mixed

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal 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 evolution in severa ...

forests predominate in tidal areas. The adjacent

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s are one of the largest in Australia. Extensive areas of

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 or ...

beds exist on the bay's seafloor. There are also large areas of tidal flats covered in sand and mud. Protected areas around the bay include Marpa National Park, Rinyirru National Park and Cape Melville National Park. The best boat access to Princess Charlotte Bay is from the Bizant boat ramp which is 20 km from Bizant.

Fauna

The Bizant river shark is a rare species of fresh or brackish water shark. More common marine species found in the bay include

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

, blue salmon, grey mackerel,

queenfish The queenfish (''Seriphus politus'') is a species of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, where it occurs along the North American coastline from Oregon to Baja California; it has been ...

grunter Grunters or tigerperches are ray-finned fishes in the family Terapontidae (also spelled Teraponidae, Theraponidae or Therapontidae). This family is part of the superfamily Percoidea of the order Perciformes. Characteristics The Terapontidae i ...

mangrove jack The mangrove red snapper (''Lutjanus argentimaculatus''), also known as mangrove jack, grey snapper, creek red bream, Stuart evader, dog bream, purple sea perch, red bream, red perch, red reef bream, river roman, or rock barramundi, is a species ...

tiger prawn ''Penaeus monodon'', commonly known as the giant tiger prawn, Asian tiger shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and other names, is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food. Taxonomy ''Penaeus monodon'' was first described by Johan Christian ...

and

mud crab Mud crab may refer to any crab that lives in or near mud, such as: *'' Scylla serrata'' *'' Scylla tranquebarica'' *'' Scylla paramamosain'' *'' Scylla olivacea'' *Members of the family Panopeidae, such as '' Panopeus herbstii'' *Members of the ...

. Both Princess Charlotte and nearby Bathurst Bay have some of the highest densities of dugong in Queensland. A Special Management area has been established in Princess Charlotte Bay. It aims to protect the dugong from commercial net fishers by limiting the number of fishing permit holders.

References

{{Far North Queensland Bays of Queensland Landforms of Far North Queensland

History

Geography

Fauna

See also

References