{{Short description|Bay in Tasmania, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} [[Image:Freycinet Peninsula NASA.jpg|thumb|280px|Great Oyster Bay, Freycinet Peninsula and Schouten Island seen from space (false colour).]] '''Great Oyster Bay''' is a broad and sheltered bay on the east coast of [[Tasmania]], Australia which opens onto the [[Tasman Sea]]. The [[Tasman Highway]] runs close to the West Coast of the bay with views of the granite peaks of [[the Hazards]] and [[Schouten Island]] of the [[Freycinet Peninsula]] which are incorporated in the [[Freycinet National Park]].
Towns on the bay include [[Swansea, Tasmania|Swansea]] and [[Coles Bay, Tasmania|Coles Bay]].
At the north of the bay the floodplains of the Aspley and Swan rivers has created [[Moulting Lagoon]], an important [[List of Ramsar sites in Australia|Ramsar-listed]] wetland, much of which lies in the [[Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve]].<ref>Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania, ''[http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=4319 Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve]'', Accessed October 27, 2008</ref> Nearby is the [[Friendly Beaches Reserve]] owned and managed by [[Bush Heritage Australia]] (BHA).
==History== [[Image:Blick ueber Great Oyster Bay zur Freycinet Peninsula.jpg|280px|thumb|Great Oyster Bay on the [[Freycinet Peninsula]]]] Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by [[Tasmanian Aborigines]]. From autumn through winter various bands of the [[Oyster Bay Tribe]] congregated around the coastal areas to harvest shellfish and marine vegetables until the end of July, when swans and ducks arrived in the lagoons and riverine areas to lay their eggs and raise their young. In August most of the bands moved up the Little Swanport and [[Prosser River]]s to the Eastern Marshes to hunt birds, kangaroos and wallabies. The [[Linetemairrener]] people lived at the lagoon year round.<ref>Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania, ''[http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=5616 Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve - Highlights]'', Cultural Values. Accessed October 27, 2008</ref>
Shore-based bay whaling activity took place in [[Coles Bay, Tasmania|Coles Bay]] and other locations in the area in the 19th century.<ref>Michael Nash, ''The bay whalers; Tasmania's shore-based whaling industry'', Naverine, Canberra, 2003, p.152.</ref>
==Activities== [[Image:Sea kayaking from Coles Bay.jpg|thumb|280px|Sea kayaking on Great Oyster Bay near [[The Hazards]]]] Activities include [[sea kayak]]ing in the sheltered waters on the east side of the bay from Coles Bay exploring the small and isolated beaches on the Freycinet Peninsula. [[Recreational fishing]] is also an activity in the bay with [[flathead (fish)|flathead]], Australian [[salmon]], [[trevally]], [[trumpeter]] and [[squid]] sometimes caught. [[Dolphin]]s and [[Arctocephalus forsteri|Australian fur seal]]s can sometimes be seen and [[whale]]s often visit the bay in winter.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
[[Aquaculture]] has been practiced in the area since the early 1970s. Species cultivated commercially include [[Pacific oyster]]s, native oysters, [[mussels]], [[scallops]], [[abalone]] and [[sea urchins]] in the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage. An initial marine farming lease set up in 1978 in Pelican Bay, with additional leases granted for shellfish culture since then in the northern section of Great Oyster Bay and the Swan River.<ref>Tasmanian Government, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120229185838/http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/SCAN-7AXUNA/$FILE/Review%20of%20the%20Great%20Oyster%20Bay%20and%20Mercury%20Passage%20MFDP%20October%201998.pdf Review of the Great Oyster Bay and Mercury Passage Marine Farming Development Plan]'' OCTOBER 1998. Archived from [http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/SCAN-7AXUNA/%24FILE/Review%20of%20the%20Great%20Oyster%20Bay%20and%20Mercury%20Passage%20MFDP%20October%201998.pdf the original] on February 29, 2012. Accessed October 26, 2008.</ref>
==Infestations== Infestations of [[Leersia oryzoides|rice grass]] has been reported by oyster farmers from [[Little Swanport, Tasmania|Little Swanport]] in 2008 with action being taken to eliminate this ecological threat in the area.<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20101028122748/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/06/2236335.htm Oyster farmers winning against water weeds]'' ABC News, May 6, 2008. Accessed October 26, 2008.</ref>
Access to most of the [[Friendly Beaches Reserve]] is restricted due to the threat of contamination by the soil pathogen [[Phytophthora cinnamomi|cinnamon fungus]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Coord|42|11|S|148|09|E|display=title|region:AU_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki}}
{{East Coast Tasmania}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:East Coast Tasmania]] [[Category:Bays of Tasmania]] [[Category:Whaling stations in Australia]]