Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713:body:0:p14
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01713
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 110708–113713

Wilson & Reeder 2005).
Environmental
The water mouse is a coastal wetland health indicator due to its reliance on wetlands for all its life requirements, its sensitivity to disturbance, and its position near the top of the food chain (Ball et al. 2004; Van Dyck et al. 2006; DES 2013; WMRG 2022).
Over the last ten years, the water mouse has been a focus of Caring for Our Country, National Landcare, Reef Trust, Biodiversity Fund, and Fisheries Habitat Restoration programs in the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Great Sandy Strait (including K'Gari/Fraser Island), Burnett-Mary, Capricorn and Curtis, and Mackay and Whitsunday regions in Queensland, and also in the Northern Territory.
Indigenous
The water mouse does, or is predicted to, occur across important coastal Country for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples (Table 1). It is a recognised protected area value for the Djelk and Bawinanga, and Thamarrur Traditional Owners and the Arafura Swamp Rangers in the Northern Territory, and for the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee and Bunya People Traditional Owners in southeast Queensland (Kaluza 2013; QYAC QPWS & P 2020).
In southeast Queensland, the water mouse is a culturally significant species for the Quandamooka People (HLW 2022) and the Kabi Kabi First Nations Peoples have custodial responsibilities for managing and protecting water mouse on Kabi Kabi Country (SCC 2022).
In east Arnhem Land (Northern Territory), the water mouse and Rakali/water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) are differentiated from other rodents by the use of a single generic name for both species, which parallels their taxonomic relationship (Woinarski et al. 2000). In contrast, the water mouse is not differentiated from other small rodents by Indigenous villagers in Wando, New Guinea (Hitchcock 1998).
Social
The water mouse is poorly known across its distribution. However, it has significant social value in parts of its distribution where there is a history of custodianship. Groups with a strong social interest in the water mouse include land managers and Custodians and natural resource management and community groups along the southern Queensland coast and islands, and researchers and their affiliates in southeast Queensland and the Mackay region.
Economic
The water mouse is not traded (CITES 2019) and there are no recorded economic values for this species.

    3               Species information
The depth of recorded information about the water mouse varies significantly with location: from detailed knowledge about habitats and habits along the southern Queensland coast to sporadic sightings across coastal areas of the Northern Territory, New Guinea, and far north Queensland. The information presented here focuses on aspects of water mouse ecology that are relevant to recovery objectives and actions and that highlight critical information gaps.

3.1                  Taxonomy
Uncontroversially accepted as Xeromys myoides Thomas (1889) (Rodentia: Muridae) and commonly called the water