Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 8587–11500

that are occupied by the water mouse.
Figure 16: A water mouse moving through mangrove habitat.
Figure 17: Box trap setups for targeted water mouse detection (left) and research (right).
Figure 18: Water mouse detections on camera traps in southeast Queensalnd (top) and West Arnhem Land (bottom).
Figure 19: Typical feeding sign of a water mouse: crab claws and carapaces in neat piles (top and centre) or scattered near the entry of a mud shelter (bottom).
Figure 20: A water mouse on top of its mud shelter during a flood caused by an east coast low and high tide.
Figure 21: Camera trap detections of European red foxes disturbing and dismantling water mouse mounds along the southern Queensland coast.
Figure 22: Pig damage to water mouse habitat (left) and a mud mound shelter (right).
Figure 23: Significant cattle pugging and mud disturbance in water mouse habitat.
Figure 24: Burnt water mouse mud mound and surrounding habitat.

Maps
Map 1: Modelled water mouse distribution in Australia and southern New Guinea.

Summary
The purpose of this plan is to set out the management and research actions that are necessary to stabilise and better understand the national water mouse (Xeromys myoides) population over the next ten years.

1.1                  Status
International IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2020): Vulnerable.
Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999: Vulnerable.
Queensland Nature Conservation (Animals) Regulation 2020 under the Nature Conservation Act 1992: Vulnerable.
Northern Territory Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000: Data Deficient.
New South Wales and Western Australia: Not listed (may occur).

1.2                  Description, habitat and distribution
The water mouse is a small rodent with grey fur and a contrasting white belly, cheeks and upper lip. It is the only species in its genus and it occupies a unique ecological niche among rodents: primarily sheltering and breeding in permanent mud nests including in mangrove hollows above the high water line and feeding primarily on crabs and other marine invertebrates in the damp intertidal zone. Despite its name, the water mouse is a terrestrial species. It lives in intertidal mangrove and saltmarsh habitats, as well as coastal and subcoastal freshwater and brackish wetlands, swamps and floodplains.
Knowledge about the distribution and occurrence of the elusive water mouse is limited. It is a widespread species that is patchily recorded from three regions along the northern and eastern coastlines of Australia, and also from one location in southern New Guinea. It is most often encountered in coastal and island areas from the Coomera River to the Whitsunday coast in eastern Queensland. There are sporadic records along coastal areas of the Northern Territory, including the Tiwi Islands, and the far north Queensland coast from Cairns to the Hinchinbrook