New estuarine habitat maps go live

Want to know how seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh vegetation cover is changing over time in NSW estuaries?

Then check out the recent updates to the NSW Estuarine Habitat dashboard.

An update to the dashboard has just gone live - following months of data collection.

It includes updated mapping of estuarine vegetation in the following areas: Hunter River, Lake Macquarie, Merimbula Lake, Pambula Lake, Twofold Bay, Curalo Lagoon, Shadrachs Creek, Nullica River, Boydtown Creek, Fisheries Creek, Towamba River and Back Lagoon.

Mangroves, seagrass and saltmarsh, are important as they provide habitat for fish and other animals, protect our shorelines from erosion and act as a carbon sink.

Keeping track of how our estuarine vegetation is faring through this project helps us identify both climate and manmade disturbances to mangrove and saltmarsh areas and manage them accordingly.

DPI Fisheries Scientist Greg West, co-developer of the NSW Estuarine Habitat dashboard, recently shared his work on mapping these disturbances at the Australian Mangrove and Saltmarsh Network conference in Ballina.

The NSW Estuarine Habitat dashboard is part of the NSW Estuarine Habitat Monitoring and Threat Assessment Project funded by the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy.