The Great Sandy Strait is one of the few passage landscapes in Australia.
It is a double-ended estuary, characterised by the largest areas of tidal swamps
in the south-east Queensland region.
The Strait has shifting patterns of mangroves, sandbanks, intertidal sand, mud islands, salt marshes and extended seagrass beds.
The area is located between the rapidly growing population centres of Hervey Bay and Tin Can Bay, and the K’gari World Heritage Area.
The Strait has been declared a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention.
An objective of the Great Sandy Marine Park is to provide better management of the Ramsar site through specific regulation of activities that threaten resident and migratory shorebirds, such as disturbance by dogs and boating activity.