Friends of Boat Bay

friends of boat bay

email: fobb@peakoil.org.au
ph : (07) 40 689 270

This information is published by Mission Beach Environmental Management Group Inc. in the public interest.

This is the Wet Tropics region of North Queensland, Australia. The climate is monsoonal, with average annual rainfall at Boat Bay of 3,400mm (130 inches).

The average daily maximum temperature varies from 25ºC in winter to 33ºC in summer and the humidity is always high, with a heavy dew in the early morning for about 360 days of the year.

The real wet season is from December to April, when the region is subject to the risk of cyclones. However it is wet all year round compared to most places in Australia. In 2000 there were 190 wet days at Chakoro Nature Reserve about 4 kilometers inland.

This satellite photo shows the district about half-way between Cairns and Townsville, with Innisfail in the north and Hinchinbrook Island in the south. The dark green areas are tropical rainforest and the light grey areas are sugarcane fields.

This is the area where two World Heritage Areas meet - the Wet Tropics rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef. It is the bio-diversity centre of Australia, with the rainforests being home to the endangered Southern Cassowary and Mahogany Glider, and the lagoon being the habitat of the endangered Dugong and sea turtles, Humpback Whales, and many other amazing creatures.

The coral reefs begin approximately 45 kilometres offshore, beyond the zone influenced by freshwater run-off, nutrients and sediments.

Boat Bay is located on the northern side of the headland of Clump Point, at the northern end of the 12 kilometer stretch of golden sand called Mission Beach. The bay dries completely at low tide, and at high tide it is a warm-water-basking spot for dugongs.

The village of Mission Beach can be seen, with the surrounding farms growing bananas. To the south are the villages of Wongaling and South Mission Beach (where the aboriginal mission was located that gives the area its name). The three villages are completely surrounded by the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Areas.

Clump Point was formed 2 million years ago when volcanic activity produced an outpouring of basalt rock. This is the only instance of basaltic soils on the coastline in the wet tropics of Australia. These soils, known as Olivine Atherton Basalt soils, have a much higher nutrient level than soils derived from other rocks in the wet tropical lowlands, and they give rise to a more diverse and luxuriant forest, with some species rarely being found outside the area in Australia.

At this scale the reefs fringing the coast can be clearly seen. The dark patches off the beach are seagrass and seaweed meadows.

Boat Bay is sheltered from the prevailing South-East winds, but is exposed to northerlies. During the big cyclone of 1918, northerly winds drove the sea right over the neck of Clump Point.

The public boat ramp on the northern arm of Clump Point can be clearly seen. This was built in 2000 at State Government expense.

The jetty on Narragon Beach, seen in the upper left of the photo, was built in 1995 with about $1 million of State Government funds. It has just been refurbished (2002) and this should give it another 7 years of life.

From the boat ramp, looking southwards into Boat Bay, the frontline vegetation is mangroves with rainforest behind.

Due to the lack of freshwater entering the bay, the mangrove zone is quite limited.

Mangroves grow below the high water mark - Avicennia marina is usually the most aggressive, and Rhizophora species dominate.

The calm water allows fine silt to deposit that feeds the mangroves and starts the food chain. Mangrove leaves are buried in the mud by crabs to be partially decomposed by bacteria before being eaten. Many small fish and crustaceans begin life in the shelter of the mangrove roots.

The rainforest trees compete for sunlight by overhanging the sea - casualties are common

		Rainforest growing on the ridge top at the neck of Clump Point.
	Looking north along Narragon Beach to the jetty, with "Quickcat" alongside

	This next sequence of photographs were taken from the boat ramp panning around the bay, taken 19th August, 2001, lowest tide of the year at 0.1 metres. Note the rainforest zone, the mangrove zone, basalt boulders with sandy beach, and the mudflat zone.
	Note the unspoilt skyline. The Cutten Brothers Track weaves its way along the beachfront forest, and is an outstanding tourist attraction, within walking distance of Mission Beach.
	From the boat ramp, looking west. The exposed reef is habitat for seaweeds and seagrasses.
	From the boat ramp, looking north-west to the Narragon Bay jetty. Clump Mountain National Park in the background. The waterline in the foreground is very close to being Lowest Astronomical Tide, which is the official boundary of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. If a marina was built in the bay, the entrance would be here, and this mudflat will have to be excavated to a depth of at least 3 metres.below LAT.

The Mission Beach Harbour Pty Ltd marina proposal
Mission Beach Harbour Pty Ltd (MBH) proposes to excavate approximately 14 hectares of the inter-tidal mudflats and form it into a 4 hectare island and a deep water marina basin. The facility will have over 170 berths and a 2-storey dry boat storage shed, commercial centre, swimming pool, tennis courts, fuel dock, clubhouse and car parking.

© Mission Beach Harbour Pty Ltd

Friends of Boat Bay is a community group that has been formed to oppose the marina proposal. We believe that the environmental values of the bay, which can be enjoyed by everyone, should not be destroyed for the convenience of an elite few boat owners.

The inter-tidal mudflats are an important habitat. When the tide is out, the area is used by wading birds such as the Beach Stone Curlew (Esacus neglectus). It is listed as being Vulnerable, with only 1,050 individuals left in all Australia. Perhaps this explains its mournful wailing call. The females lay a single egg in a scrape in the sand just above the high tide mark. They need a secluded, shady spot to be successful, and these places are becoming less and less easy to find in North Queensland. They feed on crabs and marine invertebrates.

When the tide is coming in, barramundi and mackerel school to chase bait fish into the shallows.

At least 14 hectares of these mudflats will be excavated out of existence if the marina goes ahead.

People use the mudflats too. There are prawns to be had, and pippies too. The black basalt boulders show signs of oysters, but you will probably find they have all been taken.

The key to maintaining this productive environment is sustainable harvesting, which requires the ability to think and plan ahead. That's why we are called Homo sapiens - Wise Man. Sadly, some people are in so much of a rush that they cannot wait until the tide comes in - they must have an 'all-states-of-the-tide' boating facility.

Mudskippers ... well, what do they do? They make those loud plopping sounds you hear when you are walking through the mangroves, as they jump off the mangroves' prop roots into the water.

An example of 'primitive' Life crawling out of the Sea onto the Land.

Dugongs feed on the seagrasses found just outside the bay, but also come into the shallows to bask in the warm waters of Boat Bay.

Dugongs are gregarious creatures and tend to move around in herds of up to 50 individuals.

Early settlers recall that the herds used to make such a noise when disturbed at night that people couldn't sleep.

Sadly their numbers are now so depleted that the population south of Cooktown is considered to be endangered.

Dugongs are mammals and mothers feed their young on milk from teats located just behind their 'armpits'. Mother and calf can then both feed at the same time.

The adults graze on seagrasses that usually don't grow in the surf zone, but further offshore. These areas are nurseries for many fish and prawns, but have been heavily trawled for banana prawns in the Mission Beach area. Happily, the Mission Beach area was closed to trawling in 2002, see map [479 KB] , and we look forward to seeing a return of the seagrass meadows and an increase in dugong numbers.

The developers claim that no mangroves or seagrass meadows will be damaged by their excavation, but it is difficult to see how the inter-tidal mudflats, which connect the mangrove zone to the seagrass zone, can be removed without having any impact on the other habitats –

the three habitats: mangroves, mudflats and seagrass meadows work together to form one ecosystem. You can't have one without the other.

The Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, is one of six marine turtle species occurring in Australia. All are protected under various State and Territory legislation and the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Loggerhead and Olive Ridley Turtles are listed as Endangered, while the others are listed as Vulnerable.

Some of the threatening processes are boat strikes, ingestion of plastic rubbish, and loss of nesting beaches and seagrass and mangrove habitats. Turtles mate in the shallow waters close to the beaches where the eggs are laid. The new-born turtles dig their way out of the nest and head for the sea, but can be easily distracted by bright lights.

Quiet beaches are becoming increasingly rare in North Queensland, and a marina in Boat Bay would represent another loss of habitat for turtles.

Humpback whales visit our waters in the winter. They probably would never come into Boat Bay, but will the extra noise and smell of a marina keep them further off-shore?

No visit to Boat Bay is complete without at least a moment spent at the Clump Point Lookout.
Its the ideal place to check out the wind and sea conditions before going out in a tinnie.
Bring your binoculars and scan for whales, dolphins, turtles and dugongs.

Save beautiful Boat Bay!