Our water quality monitoring program has shown the Bermagui River estuary to have excellent 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 is also commercially important for oyster farming and marine operations at the Port of Bermagui.
Water quality report card
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 was completed over the 2023–24 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 numerical scores for these 2 indicators are averaged to give the overall grade.
A
Algae
A
Water clarity
A
Overall grade
The report card shows the condition of the estuary was excellent with:
algae abundance graded excellent (A)
water clarity graded excellent (A)
overall estuary health graded excellent (A).
Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:
A – excellent
B – good
C – fair
D – poor
E – very poor.
Go to estuary report cards to find out 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.
Year
Algae
Water clarity
Overall grade
2023–24
A
A
A
2017–18
B
A
B
2011–12
A
A
A
Physical characteristics
Estuary type
Barrier river
Latitude
–36.42 (ºS)
Longitude
150.07 (ºE)
Catchment area
83.5 km2
Estuary area
2.2 km2
Estuary volume
2160.2 ML
Average depth
1.1 m
Tidal exchange volume
Tidal exchange volume or tidal prism data is available for this estuary. This tidal prism was measured in 1990.
Tide state
Flow (ML)
Local tidal range (m)
Sydney Harbour tidal range (m)
Ebb flow
2,500
1.55
1.56
Flood flow
2,500
1.3
1.35
Notes: km2 = square kilometres; m = metres; m3 = cubic metres; ML = megalitres.
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 Far South Coast Conservation Management Network(link is external) supports the local community to better manage native biodiversity. The network organises citizen science projects, provides information for private landowners, manages a local plant database, and coordinates events.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area. Where an estuary is attached to a marine park, marine park management teams are responsible for ensuring compliance with marine park zoning.