MIGRATORY birds and native plants are among the beneficiaries of efforts by Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) to restore coastal habitat at Whyte Island.
The three-year project has restored 20.3 hectares of coastal habitat at the port, strengthening ecosystem resilience and attracting a reported 65% more shorebirds to the adjoining ‘Lytton Claypan’ area.
Whyte Island is home to saltmarsh, mangrove, grassland, shrubland and dry forest ecosystems, but had become degraded due to unauthorised vehicles, invasive weeds and pest species.
Port of Brisbane co-designed and delivered the works with BMT, Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C), Tuff Yards and Wedge Tail Solutions.
Assessment by BMT, using the Queensland BioCondition Assessment Framework, confirmed the site had been rehabilitated to Queensland Herbarium standards.
Project teams planted 13,640 native plants across more than 50 species, completed more than 2500 hours of weed control and rehabilitation, managed invasive pests, installed microbat nest boxes and other fauna habitat and fenced sensitive areas.
Monitoring undertaken by Queensland Wader Study Group also shows a 40% increase in significant migratory birds, while habitat scores rose significantly across the site.
Port of Brisbane chief executive Neil Stephens said long-term investment in habitat management and strong partnerships were critical to delivering lasting environmental outcomes.
“Whyte Island is an area of high ecological significance within an operational port,” he said.
“By combining monitoring with practical on-ground measures, we’re seeing very positive, measurable improvements across a network of connected coastal habitats.
“Working closely with our project partners has been central to this. We’ll continue monitoring, maintenance, weed and pest management and supplementary planting to protect and build on these outcomes.”
Port tenants and project partners also gave almost 500 hours of their time across three planting events, including a 2026 volunteer planting day that put 700 native plants in the ground.
The Port of Brisbane occupies about 1870 hectares, more than 37% of which is environmental land. The port borders the Moreton Bay Marine Park, an internationally significant Ramsar wetland.
In FY26, PBPL completed 15 environmental monitoring programs, of which 12 are voluntary, including programs monitoring seagrass, coral, mangroves and birdlife.