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.

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