Declared Fish Habitat Area summary - Cattle-Palm Creeks
Mouth of Cattle Creek
Location
Palm, Orient, Cattle and Eleanor creeks and tributaries, and adjoining foreshores approximately 25km south of Ingham.
Plan number
Size
7,115 ha
Management level
B
Declaration dates
19 November 1983 (original declaration)
19 December 2003 (redeclared to cadastral boundaries)
11 November 2011 (redeclared combining both Cattle Creek and Palm Creek FHAs)
Local government
Hinchinbrook Shire Council
Management features
Protection of important fish habitat; wetland buffer zone from rural development; protection of important fisheries habitat including juvenile barramundi habitat.
Habitat values
Extensive stands of mangroves (Rhizophora, Avicennia, and Acanthus species); saltmarshes associated with estuaries; tidal channels and flats; shallow watercourses; seagrass beds at creek mouth of Palm and Cassidy creeks.
Fisheries values
One of Queensland’s most productive barramundi breeding habitats; major Spanish mackerel spawning area (offshore); recreational fishing; barramundi, blue salmon, bream, estuary cod, flathead, grey mackerel, grunter, mangrove jack, queenfish, school mackerel, tiger prawns.
Unique features
Extensive freshwater wetlands upstream. Melaleuca wetlands adjacent. Adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
Other values
None presently identified.