current mayor, Margaret Strelow. 7 August 2017: "The Australian Navy has located a missing US military aircraft that crashed off Australia's east coast on Saturday, Defense Minister Marise Payne said in a statement Monday. Three US Marines have been missing since what the Marine Corps calls a "mishap" with an MV-22 aircraft. Twenty-three of the 26 personnel on board the aircraft were rescued, the Corps said." The helicopter was from the ship, USS Green Bay. Environment The bay contains one of the most important seagrass habitats in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. A plan of management for the bay's dugong population was released in 1997 to protect the dugong population and reduce impacts on the seagrass meadows. Important Bird Area A 483 km2 area of the bay and its surrounds, covering all the habitat types suitable for migratory waders, or shorebirds, has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports over 1% of the world populations of pied oystercatchers, Far Eastern curlews and grey-tailed tattlers, and over 1% of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway populations of bar-tailed godwits, Eurasian whimbrels and Terek sandpipers. It also contains populations of beach stone-curlews and mangrove honeyeaters. In popular culture Shoalwater Bay is mentioned in "I Was Only Nineteen", the #1 single by Redgum from the 1983 album Caught in the Act. It is also mentioned in the video game ARMA 2, when a USMC private named Kowalski mentions he had a fun time with the "Aussies at Shoalwater Bay". See also Exercise Talisman Saber Island Head Williamson Airfield—a military airfield located within the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area References Further reading Cosgrove, B. (1996). Shoalwater Bay: Settlers in a Queensland Wilderness. Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton. . External links Damaging fossil fuel projects rejected in QLD Bays of Queensland Great Barrier Reef Important Bird Areas of Queensland Military buildings and structures in Queensland Protests in Australia Proving grounds Ramsar sites in Australia Shire of Livingstone Military installations established in 1965 1965 establishments in Australia