The Eyre Peninsula NRM Board’s region includes over 1600kms of beautiful and relatively untouched coastline -stretched between Whyalla in the Gulf of St Vincent, down to Port Lincoln, Coffin Bay and the most southerly points of the peninsula, to the far west and the start of the famous Great Australian Bight.
Eyre Peninsula has many spectacular long white sandy beaches, breath-taking limestone cliffs and fascinating reefs to explore. Many beaches are home to threatened shorebirds, migrating seabirds and birds of prey such as the White-bellied Sea Eagle and Osprey.
The cold currents in the southern oceans mean we have many marine species found no where else in the world. Our coastal environment is richer in diversity than many comparative environments. In fact, the diversity of organisms here is greater than that of the Great Barrier Reef!
In addition to this, many offshore islands, reefs and coastal areas such as Point Labatt are important breeding areas for threatened species such as the Australian Sea Lion - around 70% of the world’s population of sea lions reside on the southern coasts of Australia! The coastal areas of Whyalla in the Gulf of St Vincent provides an important spawning site for the fascinating Giant Cuttlefish which people come from all over the country to see each winter.
The Eyre Peninsula region has experienced growth in successful aquaculture and fishing and is recognised internationally as a centre of excellence for this industry. Tuna comprises the majority of income generated by aquaculture for the region and there has been significant growth in oysters, abalone, mussels, barramundi, yellow-tail kingfish and marron.
The coastal and marine environments of Eyre Peninsula are diverse and high in important conservation value. These environments provide a place where the community and visitors enjoy recreational activities and the local economy benefits from a thriving aquaculture and fishing industry.
The Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management (NRM) Board invests funding and employs three (one full time and two part time) Coastal Management Officers to protect, monitor and rehabilitate the coastal and marine areas of the region.
Integrated Coastal and Marine Management
This 2006-08 Investment Strategy project delivers on-ground works and infrastructure improvements such as:
- beach access,
- car parking,
- revegetation and rehabilitation, and
- protection of coastal environments such as mangrove areas and wetlands
The Integrated Coastal and Marine Management project employs three Coastal Management Officers (one full time and two part time) and delivers community-based monitoring programs such as the Scoping the Shoreline shorebird monitoring project and the Reef Watch program.
Reef Watch is an environmental monitoring program run by the community, coordinated by the Conservation Council of South Australia Inc. and supported in the Eyre Peninsula region by the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board.
The Reef Watch training program provides recreational scuba divers and snorkelers with the necessary skills to gather valuable information about the local marine environment. This information will contribute to a growing body of information enabling better management of coastal and marine areas.
Scoping the Shoreline
Volunteers right around the Eyre Peninsula coast are helping to monitor shore birds, to help investigate the impact of coastal activities on migrating and nesting birds.
The program is delivered by Birds Australia with support from the Department for Environment & Heritage and Eyre Peninsula NRM Board. But the real guts of the program is the enthusiastic volunteers and eager ‘scopers’ getting out onto the beaches and monitoring on a regular basis.
The Scoping the Shoreline project involves interested people who survey coastal bird populations. The survey hopes to show how coastal activity is affecting bird populations. It ties in closely to some of the management decisions that need to be made about these beaches and links closely to the coastal and pest management programs of the Eyre Peninsula NRM Board.
For more information contact our Coastal Management Officers:
- Rachael Kannussaar (Southern & Eastern Eyre Peninsula) on (08) 8682 7533
- Kerryn McEwan (Southern & Eastern Eyre Peninsula) on (08) 8682 7534
- Louise Mortimer (Western & Central Eyre Peninsula) on (08) 8626 1108
Establishing Marine Baselines: surveys of shallow water bays of the Eyre Peninsula
This program monitors marine study sites across the entire
Eyre Peninsula NRM Board region. These study sites enable monitoring that can detect any habitat change, identify causes and mitigate management strategies before significant impacts to marine environments develop.
This monitoring will inform the Department for Environment & Heritage, Eyre Peninsula NRM Board and partnering organisations of how land-based pollution and management strategies improve land catchments and may be impacting in different areas.
This project will deliver detailed and spatially accurate habitat maps of several sheltered bays on the west coast and areas of the Spencer Gulf and around the Whyalla area.
The Marine Baselines project is managed through in-kind support from the Department for Environment & Heritage, including contributions from the Senior Scientific Officer and the Manager Coast and Marine Conservation Branch. Funds are used to engage a project officer, field officer to undertake the work and to cover operating costs.