Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve is a
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
in the
Northern Territory of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
It is situated approximately east of
Darwin and protects a large area of
eucalypt woodland and saline wetlands. The area is bounded by the Howard River to the west and Gunn Point to the east with all of
Shoal Bay
In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...
being found within the reserve, it also shares a common boundary with the
Howard Springs Hunting Reserve and the
Tree Point Conservation Area.
It consists of extensive sand and mud-flats with much of the bay exposed at low tide. Numerous swamps surround the bay with remnants of a monsoon vine forest. Patches of rainforest are also found around the margins of the tidal area. The tidal flats are a known feeding and roosting area for migratory shorebirds in their non-breeding season. Aggregations of up to 5,000 waterbirds can be found in freshwater areas when the larger areas further south are dry.
[
]
The area is home to three threatened species of plant: ''
Cycas armstrongii
''Cycas armstrongii'' is a species of cycad in the genus ''Cycas'', endemic to Northern Territory of Australia. It is found from the Finniss River in the west to the Arnhem Highway in the east, north of Pine Creek. It also occurs on the Tiwi I ...
'', ''
Ptychosperma macarthurii
''Ptychosperma macarthurii'', commonly known as the Macarthur palm, is a species of tree in the palm family Arecaceae. Its native range is northern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland with a number of disjunct populations in the Northern Territ ...
'' and ''
Utricularia dunstaniae''. The area is also home to eleven threatened species of animal including
Australian bustard,
red goshawk,
northern quoll,
flatback turtle
The Australian flatback sea turtle (''Natator depressus'') is a species of sea turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf. This turtle gets its ...
and
dwarf sawfish
The dwarf sawfish or Queensland sawfish, ''Pristis clavata'', is a sawfish of the family Pristidae, found in tropical Australia. This endangered species is the smallest species in its family.
Description
The dwarf sawfish has a torpedo-shap ...
.
[
The traditional owners of the area are the Larrakia peoples, several large shell ]midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
s left by these peoples can be found in the upland intrusions into the swamp areas.IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
Category VI protected area.
See also
Protected areas of the Northern Territory
References
External links
Official webpage
{{Protected areas of the Northern Territory, state=collapsed
Coastal reserves in the Northern Territory