2019-02-18 GC Agenda Att 1 to Item 8 - Draft Environment Strategy

Strategy 2: Protect and enhance coastal environments and vegetated
buffers to coastal foreshores
Target: By 2030, the extent of vegetated buffers is maintained and there is improved diversity of
coastal ecosystems.

Noosa’s coastal environments, including sand dunes, beaches, marine areas and coastal
wetlands, provide a variety of habitats for native plants and animals, and also provide for recreation
uses, tourism and our coastal lifestyle.

The marine areas of Noosa, like other SEQ coastal waters, are a transitional area for temperate
and tropical species, and therefore include a broad diversity of ecosystems and species. Rocky
headlands provide habitat for molluscs, soft corals, crustaceans and algae while deeper rocky
shelves are home to soft and hard corals and seaweeds, providing food and protection to fish and
turtles.

Coastal creeks from Peregian Beach to Noosa Heads feed directly into the ocean. Some of these
creeks are habitat for important freshwater fish such as the vulnerable Honey Blue-Eye
(Pseudomugil mellis) and the endangered Oxleyan Pygmy Perch (Nannoperca oxleyana). Wallum
ecosystems at the headwaters of coastal creeks are highly acidic and support the Wallum Froglet
(Crinia tinnula) and Wallum Sedgefrog (Litoria olongburensis), both listed as vulnerable species.

The Noosa Shire has 41kms of open beach which provides habitat for intertidal invertebrate
species, and birds such as Pied Oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris) that feed on them.
Endangered Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta) and Vulnerable Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas)
nest on open beaches between November and March each year, and young turtles hatch 6-12
weeks later. The Noosa River estuary is a resting and feeding ground for migratory birds. Some of
these birds travel from as far as the Arctic to avoid the northern hemisphere winter.

The condition of coastal waters is very much influenced by nearby rivers. The Noosa River feeds
into Laguna Bay and affects offshore marine areas. The Great Sandy Marine Park and the Great
Barrier Reef are also influenced by outflows from the Mary River. Urban stormwater discharge is
the primary source of litter pollution entering rivers and the ocean, directly impacting on birds,
marine mammals and turtles.

Coastal foreshores are dynamic, changing over time in response to weather, tides, waves, ocean
currents, sand deposition and erosion. These processes drive long-shore sand movement from
south to north. During severe weather events, coastal hazards such as erosion and storm tide
inundation can threaten built assets, communities and natural environments. These coastal
hazards will be exacerbated by climate change due to more extreme weather conditions and sea
level rise.

Human activities including development, infrastructure, encroachments, and vegetation clearing
need to be minimised and carefully managed within coastal areas to allow natural coastal
processes of erosion and accretion to continue, and to protect existing coastal resources.
Protection of the important buffering function of vegetated dune systems and foreshore areas is
critical to improving resilience to coastal hazards.




Noosa Shire Environment Strategy                                                              Page 24