Lakes Entrance Sand Management, Environment Protection, Sand Dredging, Tide Information, Dredging Pump Sand, Coastal Environment & Coastal Protection, Gippsland

Reports & Plans

CURRENT PLANS & REPORTS

Lakes Entrance Existing Conditions - Marine Communities Report

Created: 27 June 2007

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Lakes Entrance is situated at the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. The lakes cover an area of 340 km2 and are separated from the ocean by a narrow barrier of sand dunes. They are internationally significant wetlands and listed under the Ramsar Convention. The Entrance is an artificially modified channel connecting Gippsland Lakes to Bass Strait.
As part of a plan to improve the maintenance of this channel, Gippsland Ports commissioned this study of the marine ecosystems in the vicinity of Lakes Entrance. Key information requirements were the type and distribution of marine habitats present, the composition of communities within these habitats and the presence of listed items of conservation concern.
The brief defined four study areas:
- Inner Channels, encompassing parts of The Narrows, North Arm, Hopetoun
Arm and Cunninghame Arm;
- The Bar – encompassing the bar and adjacent environs outside the entrance, in
Bass Strait;
- Western DMG, divided into three sub-areas – the swash and surf zone, DMG
zone and offshore zone; and
- Eastern DMG, also divided into three sub-areas – the swash and surf zone,
DMG zone and offshore zone.