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. | Threatened
or endangered species found in the wetlands include the western swamp tortoise, orange
bellied parrot, white-bellied frog, honey blue-eye fish and the Tasmanian mountain shrimp.Ibis from Victoria's Barmah and Gunbower forest
wetlands control insects on 100,000ha of cropping nearby. Their work is valued at $700,000
a year.
In Singapore the wetlands were filled and the foreshores made into parks during a period of high economic development. Wildlife disappeared. Singapore is now digging wetlands and allowing vegetation to flourish on many foreshores In England sea-walls costing $600,000 a year to maintain have replaced coastal sea marshes. Engineers now estimate this cost would be reduced 12 fold if the marshes were reinstated.The Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park wetlands collect $1.5 million a year in visitor fees and generate many more millions in incidental expenditure and flow-on benefits. The possible world heritage listing and protection of extensive wetlands on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula is expected to see eco-tourism expand rapidly in the far north. Right now, western New South Wales Wetlands are flooding for the first time in years - birds, fish, insects and amphibians will breed quickly to replenish stocks depleted by the drought. This is the natural cycle at work. If wetlands are drained or filled, the natural cycle ends. Mangroves have evolved to adapt to the salty environment. Some have roots that exclude salt from the water they take in, others secrete excess salt from special glands in their leaves, while others have aerial root systems to gain extra oxygen because the soil is waterlogged ad lacking in oxygen. Under the current Fisheries Act all mangrove trees and most tidal plants are protected.
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