Irwin Inlet

	Irwin Inlet at a glance
	Inlet area:		10 square kilometres
	Data selection

      

Irwin Inlet is located on a narrow coastal plain between hills and dunes and rocky coastal headlands. Flow from the Kent and Bow rivers is insufficient to keep the inlet open all year, and it only opens (or is opened artificially to prevent flooding of agricultural land) following winter rains, which produce sufficient flow in the rivers to breach the bar at the mouth. The bar closes again in mid-summer. During the wetter winters of the 1940s the inlet was known to stay open for years at a time.

The inlet is at an advanced stage of sediment loading. It is very shallow, and is gradually turning into swampland. However, the main basin still supports extensive seagrass beds and is still used for commercial fisheries.

In 2005 a project (Our Living Rivers) was set up to collect and analyse data, enabling the Department of Water to monitor the health of the river over time and help determine what systems need better protection. In spring 2006 and 2007 samples were taken from the Bow River to assess the quality of the water and habitat as well as the presence of fish and macroinvertebrates. Two sites were sampled on the Bow River system.

Further Information:

South Coast Regional Land and Water Care Strategy: The Kent-Frankland Sub-Region. Prepared by: the South Coast Regional Assessment Panel and the South Coast Regional Initiative Planning Team: December 1996