Conservation of Natural Wilderness Values in the Port Davey Marine and Estuarine Protected Area, South-Western Tasmania
AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS Aquatic Conserv: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 20: 297–311 (2010) Published online 3 December 2009 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/aqc.1079 Conservation of natural wilderness values in the Port Davey marine and estuarine protected area, south-western Tasmania GRAHAM J. EDGARa,b,Ã, PETER R. LASTc, NEVILLE S. BARRETTb, KAREN GOWLETT-HOLMESc, MICHAEL DRIESSENd and PETER MOONEYe aAquenal Pty Ltd, GPO Box 828, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7001 bTasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute, University of Tasmania, GPO Box 252-49, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7001 cCSIRO Divison of Marine and Atmospheric Research, Castray Esplanade, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7000 dDepartment of Primary Industries and Water, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7000 eParks and Wildlife Service, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7000 ABSTRACT 1. Port Davey and associated Bathurst Harbour in south-western Tasmania represent one of the world’s most anomalous estuarine systems owing to an unusual combination of environmental factors. These include: (i) large uninhabited catchment protected as a National Park; (ii) ria geomorphology but with fjord characteristics that include a shallow entrance and deep 12-km long channel connecting an almost land-locked harbour to the sea; (iii) high rainfall and riverine input that generate strongly-stratified estuarine conditions, with a low-salinity surface layer and marine bottom water; (iv) a deeply tannin-stained surface layer that blocks light penetration to
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