Manly Lagoon Dredging Project - Manly Council - NSW Government

Manly Lagoon Dredging Project – Review of Environmental FactorsPrepared for Manly and Warringah Councils5.4 BiodiversityManly Lagoon and its surrounding open space have been heavily impacted by urbandevelopment. Historically, a great deal of land-filling and reclamation of wetlands around theLagoon has taken place. By the 1940s most of the wetlands surrounding the lagoon hadbeen filled and drained (DNR, 2009).A desktop study was undertaken to establish the existing ecological conditions and identifythe presence of terrestrial and aquatic habitats and flora / fauna species of conservationsignificance at and surrounding the proposed works site. The study included a review ofavailable literature and searches of relevant databases. With respect to birds, this desktopstudy was then supplemented by a field survey conducted by Biodiversity Officers ofWarringah Council on 4 January 2010. The assessment report prepared by WarringahCouncil (2010) is contained in Appendix N.Databases searched as part of the desktop study included:BioNet Database;DECCW (NPWS) Critical Habitat Register;DECCW (NPWS) Wildlife Atlas;DECCW Threatened Species Listings;DEWHA (Commonwealth) EPBC Act Database; andI&I NSW Weeds - Noxious Weed Declarations.It is important to note that these databases are only indicative records of flora and faunaspecies and are not the result of a systematic flora and fauna survey.DECCW’s Critical Habitat Register was searched on 9 July 2009. A critical habitatdeclaration has been issued under the Threatened Species Conservation Regulation 2002for the Little Penguin population in Sydney’s North Harbour. This ‘critical habitat’ covers twoareas in Little Manly Cove and Spring Cove. As this critical habitat area is approximately2.5km distant from the proposed works and in Sydney Harbour (not in the Manly Lagooncatchment) the works will not impact on this critical habitat.A search of the Commonwealth EPBC Act Database on 9 July 2009 incorporated an area of6 square kilometres around the proposed site. Matters of national environmental significanceidentified within the area were as follows: Threatened Species: 31 Migratory Species: 33.Other matters protected by the EPBC Act identified within the area were as follows: Commonwealth Lands: 2 Places on the Register of National Estate: 3 Listed Marine Species: 48 Whales and Other Cetaceans: 122 July 2010 Cardno (NSW/ACT) Pty Ltd 70H:\Doc\2010\Reports.2010\Rep2580v4.doc