2211-31930 SRA - Approved Plans and Documents

                                                                                  Native Foresters



     (c) A plant, or material of a plant, prescribed under a regulation or management plan to be
     a marine plant.

Marine plants include mangroves, Swamp she-oak with Salt couch understorey, seagrass,
samphires, saltbushes, Salt couch and saltmarsh plants, algae and other tidal plants that are
growing adjacent to the tidal zone, landward and seaward, above and below HAT, are
protected under the Fisheries Act 1994. All other native plants and plant material growing
below HAT are also protected under the Act.

‘Dead marine wood’ means a branch or trunk that is or was part of a marine plant. Plant material
on tidal land includes all non-native species unless listed under the Biosecurity Act 2014 as a
Restricted Invasive Plant (RIP).

The following methodology was used to conduct the marine plant survey:

    •    The survey area was projected into ArcGIS pro 3.0.2 along with QLD government spatial
         data including vegetation management, waterways, elevation and cadastral layers and
         exported to the Avenza maps application for viewing on an Ipad with inbuilt GPS. The
         Queensland Government mapped HAT layer was sourced from QSpatial and projected
         into ArcGIS for visualisation of areas above / below HAT. This was ground-truthed on site
         by observing characteristics such as presence and absence of marine tolerant species
         and the landform, and adjusted to the high-water mark to compensate for inconsistencies
         in the data.
    •    The botanist surveyed the vegetation for marine plants designated under the Queensland
         Fisheries Act 1994. All plants below HAT were considered ‘marine plants’. Above HAT,
         plants were considered ‘marine plants’ if they were within/ or adjacent to a tidal area, and
         species listed in the Fish Habitat Management Operational Policy (Appendix 1, Table 3)
         (Couchman & Beumer, 2007) including mangroves, Melaleucas, Swamp she-oak with Salt
         couch understorey, Salt couch, Samphire and Mangrove fern.
    •    The area of marine plants occurring above and below the estimated HAT was measured
         by a vertical projection downwards of the living and attached plant material. This cover
         equates to the projected foliage cover in the Fish Habitat Management Operational Policy
         (Couchman & Beumer, 2007).
    •    The botanist recorded what percentage of the area occupied by each species or marine
         plant community would be subject to temporary impacts (i.e., where marine plants were
         considered likely to be able to recolonise within 5 years of disturbance) or permanent
         impacts (i.e., where clearing required for proposed works would result in permanent loss
         of marine plants).
    •    The maturity of mangroves and presence of pneumatophores was noted using the
         following size classes: adults (>2m tall); saplings (<2m tall); seedlings (<0.5m tall).
    •    Survey results were imported into GIS pro 3.0.2 for analysis of species composition and
         total areas of temporary and permanent impacts to marine plants from proposed works.
         Impervious surfaces such as concrete pathways were excluded from the areas of impacts
         to marine plants.




Catalina Jetty, Gympie Terrace, Noosaville – Marine Plant Assessment                                 8