Our water quality monitoring program has shown the Bermagui River estuary to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Bermagui River is a barrier river estuary with an open, trained entrance. It is located on the far south coast of New South Wales and flows next to the town of Bermagui and into the sea at Bermagui Point.
The Bermagui River estuary is popular for activities such as boating, fishing and kayaking. It’s also commercially important for oyster farming and marine operations at the Port of Bermagui.
As part of our water quality monitoring program we assess the water quality and ecosystem health of an estuary using a range of relevant indicators. We sample a subset of the estuaries between Wollongong and the Victorian border every 3 years. The most recent sampling in the Bermagui River Lake was completed over the 2017–18 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.
This report card represents 2 water quality indicators that we routinely measure: the amount of algae present and water clarity. Low levels of these 2 indicators equate with good water quality.
The report card shows the condition of the estuary was good with:
Find out more about our estuary report cards and what each grade means. Read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols and find out how we calculate these grades.
We have monitored water quality in the Bermagui River estuary since 2011. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.
Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:
Estuary type: Barrier river
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –36.42 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 150.07 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 83.5 | |
| Estuary area (km2) | 2.2 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 2160.2 | |
| Average depth (m) | 1.1 | |
Tidal exchange volume or tidal prism data is available for this estuary. This tidal prism was measured in 1990.
| Tide state | Flow (106 m3) |
Local tidal range (m) |
Sydney Harbour
tidal range (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ebb flow | 2.5 | 1.55 | 1.56 |
| Flood flow | 2.5 | 1.3 | 1.35 |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
The catchment of Bermagui River is moderately disturbed with 35% of land cleared for grazing south-west of Cobargo. The urban area of Bermagui occupies 5% of the catchment. Two-thirds of the catchment is forest that encompasses most of Biamanga National Park.
The NSW Food Authority website lists the current status of oyster/shellfish harvest areas.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Bega Valley Shire Council manage this estuary.
Saltmarsh, mangrove and seagrass communities occur in the Bermagui River estuary.
Find out more about plants in our estuaries.