
Additional reports and documents attached to RIS
Moreton Bay Ramsar Site Boundary description (2018) (PDF - 642.45 KB)
Moreton Bay Ramsar Site Boundary description (2018) (DOCX - 181.63 KB)
Moreton Bay Boundary Map (PDF - 3.23 MB)
Cultural Heritage – Moreton Bay Ramsar Site (PDF - 54.48 KB)
Cultural Heritage – Moreton Bay Ramsar Site (DOCX - 12.55 KB)
RIS – expanded version (PDF - 3.25 MB)
RIS – expanded version (DOCX - 359.88 KB)
Designation letter (PDF - 725.42 KB)
About the document
Ramsar Information Sheets provides information on wetlands that have been designated under the Ramsar Convention as Wetlands of International Importance. A Ramsar Information Sheet includes information on wetland types, ecology, land uses, threats, hydrological values and maps for the site.
The Moreton Bay Ramsar site is located in and around Moreton Bay, north-east, east and south-east of the city of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.
The site meets all nine criteria for the designation of wetlands of international importance. It is notable for its large size, diversity of wetland habitats, connectivity between wetland types, as well as diverse flora and fauna that includes threatened species and ecological communities. This high diversity is due to Moreton Bay being a meeting point for tropical northern and temperate southern faunas, combined with its diversity of habitats.
The site includes one of the most extensive intertidal areas of seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh communities on the eastern coast of Australia, and is valuable for supporting fisheries resources, waterbirds and marine megafauna of conservation significance.
The site regularly supports more than 50,000 waterbirds, representing at least 43 species of shorebirds and at least 28 migratory shorebird species, and supports over 1% of the estimated flyway population of at least nine migratory shorebird species, including the critically endangered eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) and curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea).
The site further supports a range of internationally, nationally, state and locally significant species including the Oxleyan pygmy perch (Nannoperca oxleyana) fish, four species of acid frogs, the water mouse (Xeromys myoides), Illidge’s ant-blue butterfly (Acrodipsas illidgei), and several freshwater invertebrates.
In addition to its environmental values, the site provides important cultural, social, economic and recreational values.