Cover Letter, DA Form 1, Plans, Owners Consent, Coastal Environment Assessment · OPW21/0049

 Noosa Spit Coastal Protection Environmental Assessment                                              6
 Study Approach




2          Study Approach
2.1        Overview
           This assessment was largely based on a desk-top assessment of the existing information
           available for the project area. Site inspections and field surveys have been previously
           conducted for ecological and geological components.

2.2        Key Data Sources
           This assessment was based on an analysis of the following information:

           • The State Mapping Layers were used (search undertaken on the 13th November 2020 to
             identify Matters of State Environmental Significance)

           • Current aerial photography (Nearmap and Google Earth 2020)

           • Species profiles (for threatened and migratory species)

           • Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT) data (Queensland Department of Natural Resources and
             Mines, 2016) noting traditional mapping of marine plants uses HAT as a surrogate for the
               extent to which marine plants could occur

           • Queensland's Fish Habitat Area (FHA) network

           • 2017 Pre-Clearing and Remnant Regional Ecosystem Mapping (Queensland Herbarium
             v11)

           • Australian Wetlands Database

           • Marine plant surveys for above subtidal vegetation (both desktop and field survey
             (28/09/2020))

           • Marine plant surveys for subtidal vegetation (seagrass) within the area to be dredged
               (23/11/2020).

2.2.1      Impact Assessment
           The impact assessment approach is consistent with the Queensland Significant Residual
           Impact Guideline (Queensland Government, 2014), which sets out criteria for determining the
           significance of an impact to a MSES. These significance criteria have been used to determine
           whether the project is likely to have a significant impact on key environmental values.




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    Assessment.docx