true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

AUSTRALIA AND SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN

ISRA FACTSHEETS

AUSTRALIA AND SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN

Hastings River ISRA

119/158

Hastings River ISRA

Hastings River

Summary

Hastings River is located in Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. The area comprises the lower reaches of the river, including the river mouth. The habitat is characterised by sandy substrates, mangroves, and urban and agricultural riverbanks. It is influenced by tidal water movement and by freshwater and sediment input from the river. Within this area there are: threatened species and reproductive areas (Bull Shark Carcharhinus leucas).

Hastings River

Hastings River

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Hastings River is located in Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. The area comprises the lower reaches of the Hastings River, including the river mouth. The river drains a catchment of 3,700 km2 and receives an annual rainfall of ~1,500 mm with a peak from December–May (NSW Government 2006). The habitat is characterised by sandy substrates, mangroves, and urbanised and agricultural riverbanks.

The area is influenced by freshwater and sediment input from the river, and by tidal saltwater intrusions. The tidal limit is just upstream of the area boundary, ~32 km from the river mouth, leading to a gradient in salinity levels in this area (Hastings Estuary Management Committee 2001). Water turbidity increases during high rainfall events and is also influenced by wind-driven waves (Hastings Estuary Management Committee 2001).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthic and pelagic and is delineated from inshore and surface waters (0 m) to 10 m based on the bathymetry of the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

One Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species regularly occurs in the area. This is the Vulnerable Bull Shark (Rigby et al. 2021).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C1 – REPRODUCTIVE AREAS

Hastings River is an important reproductive area for one shark species.

Neonate and young-of-the-year (YOY) Bull Sharks are regularly encountered in this area (N Lubitz unpubl. data 2025). A research study using rod-and-line captured and released 16 individuals on two survey days each in January 2022 and January 2024 (N Lubitz unpubl. data 2025). The total length (TL) was measured and the presence of an umbilical scar recorded. Captured sharks included nine females, six males, and one for which the sex was not recorded. Most of the captures were neonates (n = 12; 75%) ranging 60–81 cm TL. The remaining four individuals were YOY (25%) ranging from 82–93 cm TL. Almost all individuals (n = 13) had a visible umbilical scar (open or healed). The size-at-birth for the species is 56–81 cm TL and YOY can be up to 99 cm TL (Pillans et al. 2020; Ebert et al. 2021). Additionally, Bull Sharks captured by recreational fishers are regularly reported on social media, including captures of pregnant sharks. Fishers often capture several individuals on a trip, particularly during the night. Many of the records were from January, indicating a seasonal peak in abundance during the austral summer. Fishers regularly capture juveniles >100 cm TL.

Bull Sharks in eastern Australia remain in river and estuary habitats for up to five years (Werry et al. 2011; Niella et al. 2022), highlighting that juveniles, in addition to neonates and YOY, are still largely restricted to the area, with the larger juveniles potentially making some movements into adjacent marine waters (Smoothey et al. 2023). Although there are other rivers on the New South Wales coast that also regularly host small Bull Sharks, these river systems are individually important. Bull Sharks in Australia display natal philopatry, with females returning to particular river systems to pup (Tillett et al. 2012; Lubitz 2023). For example, half-sibling pairs were found within a river on Australia’s east coast up to seven cohorts apart, highlighting the long-term natal philopatry of females (Lubitz 2023).

Therefore, individual rivers in this region represent discrete portions of habitat that are important to Bull Sharks.

Hastings River

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms