Understand why South Australia’s Coorong and Lower Lakes are so important

South Australia’s Coorong and Lakes Alexan­d­ri­na and Albert became a Ram­sar-list­ed wet­land 37 years ago.

But do you know much about the area’s inter­na­tion­al eco­log­i­cal importance?

About the site

Locat­ed 200km south east of Ade­laide, the 140,500ha site con­sists of the two lakes and the trib­u­taries of the Finniss Riv­er and Cur­ren­cy Creek which form a wet­land sys­tem at the mouth of the Mur­ray River.

All of the land and water with­in the Coorong Nation­al Park, includ­ing the Younghus­band Penin­su­la and the ocean beach to low water mark, also forms part of the site.

What makes this site so important?

The Coorong and Low­er Lakes are inter­na­tion­al­ly recog­nised for sup­port­ing rare and endan­gered plants and ani­mals, as well as sig­nif­i­cant pop­u­la­tions of water­bird and fish species.

It sup­ports the great­est wealth of water­bird species in the Mur­ray-Dar­ling Basin. It hosts impor­tant nest­ing colonies of cor­morants, plovers, ibis­es and terns, and also sup­ports glob­al­ly endan­gered species such as the orange-bel­lied par­rot and the Mur­ray cod.

And what makes it even more spe­cial is that the site comes with enor­mous cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance. It is the Tra­di­tion­al lands of the Ngar­rind­jeri and is part of the liv­ing body of the Ngar­rind­jeri Nation.

The region also sup­ports local com­mu­ni­ties and indus­tries, which include agri­cul­ture, viti­cul­ture, fish­ing, man­u­fac­tur­ing and tourism.

What is Ramsar-listing?

The Ram­sar Con­ven­tion is an inter­na­tion­al agree­ment that aims to halt and, where pos­si­ble, reverse the loss of wet­lands around the world. It is named after the city of Ram­sar in Iran, where the Con­ven­tion was signed in 1971.

The agree­ment seeks to con­serve the remain­ing wet­lands through wise use and edu­ca­tion about their val­ue and importance.

As part of the Ram­sar Con­ven­tion, con­tract­ing par­ties make a com­mit­ment to:

• des­ig­nate at least one site that meets the Ram­sar cri­te­ria for inclu­sion in the List of Wet­lands of Inter­na­tion­al Importance
• pro­mote the con­ser­va­tion and wise use of wetlands
• include wet­land con­ser­va­tion with­in their nation­al land-use planning
• estab­lish nature reserves on wet­lands and pro­mote wet­land train­ing, and
• con­sult with oth­er con­tract­ing par­ties about the imple­men­ta­tion of the Ram­sar Convention.

The Coorong and Lakes Alexan­d­ri­na and Albert were des­ig­nat­ed as site num­ber 321 under the Con­ven­tion on 1 Novem­ber 1985.

How does Ram­sar-list­ing help a spe­cial site like the Coorong and Low­er Lakes?

Ram­sar list­ing rais­es the inter­na­tion­al pro­file of a site. For the Coorong and Low­er Lakes, it has meant increased col­lab­o­ra­tion across all lev­els of gov­ern­ment to improve long-term man­age­ment of the wet­land as well as increased leg­isla­tive pro­tec­tion through the Com­mon­wealth Envi­ron­ment Pro­tec­tion and Bio­di­ver­si­ty Con­ser­va­tion Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Want to explore this inter­na­tion­al­ly sig­nif­i­cant site? Check out ourtips from Coorong Nation­al Park Ranger Tim Hart­manand ourguide to spend­ing a day in the park.