Key Facts about Moreton Bay - Moreton Bay Foundation

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An international treasure known for its biological diversity and aesthetic beauty.

Moreton Bay stretches 3400km2 from the Gold Coast to Caloundra

Moreton Bay’s size

Moreton Bay is approximately 115 km (71 miles) long from north to south and 40 km (25 miles) at its widest point. Covering almost 3,400 km² (1,312 miles²), the Bay stretches from Caloundra to the Gold Coast, including the seaside communities of Redcliffe, Wynnum, Manly and Cleveland. Within Moreton Bay are the smaller bays of Waterloo, Redland, Raby, Deception and Bramble Bay.

The Moreton Bay catchment (the waterways that ultimately flow into the Bay) stretches from the Queensland–New South Wales border, north to Noosa and west to the Great Dividing Range. Covering approximately 22,700 km² (8,765 miles²), this catchment includes 14 major river catchments, including the Logan-Albert, Brisbane, Pine, Maroochy and Noosa Rivers.

Aeolid nudibranch, Straddie, © copyright January 2018, Cedric van den Berg, UQ PhD student

Flora and Fauna

Moreton Bay is home to hundreds of species of fish, six of the world’s seven sea turtle species, three species of dolphin and herding dugong. It also contains numerous species of shark and ray and thousands of mollusc and other invertebrates. Apart from providing excellent habitat for different mangrove species, within the waters of Moreton Bay are salt marshes, coral reefs and large seagrass beds. Mangroves provide nurseries for fish, prawns and crabs and act as soil stabilisers, helping to reduce excessive sediment flow and decreasing the threat of erosion caused by currents and stream flow. Seagrasses are flowering plants, close biological relatives of lilies and orchids.

critically endangered Eastern Curlew in flight

Birds

The Moreton Bay Ramsar site supports more than 50,000 wintering and staging shorebirds during the non-breeding season. These migratory birds, some smaller than a cricket ball, travel from the Northern Hemisphere, including Siberia, to feed in Moreton Bay. Migratory shorebirds undertake some of the longest regular migrations of any animal group, with many species breeding in the high Arctic tundra and migrating all the way to the Southern Hemisphere to spend the non-breeding season, often stopping along the way to refuel in the vast tidal flats of East Asia. Moreton Bay’s wetlands are classified by BirdLife International as an important bird area.

Over 40 species of shorebirds use its intertidal habitats including numerous migratory species listed by international migratory bird conservation agreements.

Humpbacks playing off Tangalooma Resort Velella Moreton Island copyright September 2017 Chris Roelfseama UQ Lecturer

Humpback Whales

Throughout the year, many different species of whale visit Moreton Bay. Humpback whale, Killer whale, Southern Right whale, Sperm whale, Melon-headed whale, Bryde’s whale and Minke whales are some of the species that can be seen in the Bay. Under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the southern right whale is listed as endangered and the humpback whale is listed as vulnerable.

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Dolphin pod at beach Tangalooma copyright 19-12-2017 Katya Ovsyanikova UQ PhD student

Dolphins

There are two species of bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the Moreton Bay region: the darker larger offshore species found outside the Bay on the seaward side of the barrier islands and the coastal inshore form (lighter grey with speckled belly) found within the Bay. The larger offshore species is the common bottlenose dolphin. The most southerly resident population of the Australian humpback dolphin occurs in Moreton Bay. Owing to small, discrete populations, this tropical to subtropical inshore species is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in Queensland under the Nature Conservation Act.

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Endangered Dugong flanked by Golden Trevally

Dugongs

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Green sea turtle gliding over a dense patch of branching coral Flinders Reef copyright September 2023 Sheridan Rabbitt Marine Science student

Marine Turtles

Moreton Bay supports large numbers of the nationally threatened green turtle, hawksbill turtle and logger head turtle. Overall, there are six species of marine turtle from two families that have been recorded foraging within the waters of Moreton Bay. Of those species, two (green turtle and loggerhead turtle are resident in substantial foraging populations that contribute annually to nesting populations of their southern Great Barrier Reef and South Pacific Ocean genetic stocks, respectively.

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Moon wrasse and corals during Flinders Reef Ecological Assessment copyright Cedric van den Berg UniDive UQ PhD student volunteer

Corals

There are approximately 40 species of coral within Moreton Bay and there are 125 species of coral in the cooler offshore waters at Flinders Reef. Human activities in and around the marine park have various impacts on the coral communities. Sediment, nutrients and other pollutants resulting from land-clearing and agricultural and industrial activities, flow into the Bay via most of south-east Queensland’s waterways. High sedimentation can reduce coral larvae settlement and coral growth

Grass spinulosa starfish Eastern Banks copyright Chris Roelfseama UQ Lecturer

Seagrasses

Seagrasses are a dominant feature in the seascape of Moreton Bay. They host numerous animals and provide the region with a wide range of ecosystem services. There are seven species of seagrasses in Moreton Bay that persist across a wide range of environmental conditions from muddy sediments in the western Bay to the cleaner, sandier waters of the eastern Bay adjacent to Moreton and Stradbroke Islands.

Read the Research Paper