There is currently very little comprehensive spatial information about the extent of marine habitats and the condition of marine resources along the NSW coastline. A current NSW DPI project, being done in collaboration with the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and the coastal CMAs, will greatly extend the amount of spatial information available by mapping key coastal habitats and doing biodiversity surveys within those habitats.

A particular focus of the project is on NSW estuaries. Important habitats such as seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh are being mapped in the central part of the NSW coast. This will complement earlier work done along the coast south of Wollongong and north from Newcastle that formed part of the Comprehensive Coastal Assessment (CCA). Together with the CCA maps, this will provide a complete coverage of all NSW estuaries. Maps for each estuary will be made available via the internet. An early example of the type of output that will be available is provided for Lake Macquarie.

The outputs from the project will provide Coastal CMAs and State and Australian Governments with the knowledge to support natural resource condition targets and to monitor the effectiveness of management actions against those targets. For further information about the estuarine mapping project, contact Dr Bob Creese on bob.creese@dpi.nsw.gov.au or 4916.3806.