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The Port River () is the western branch of the largest tidal estuary on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent. It extends inland through the historic Inner Harbour of Port Adelaide, to the constructed salt-water West Lakes in the north-western suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. The lower reaches of the Port River flow between the Lefevre Peninsula, and the ''Section Bank'' and Torrens Island, and form the sea entrance to the port facilities of Adelaide, and connect to the Barker Inlet to the east via the ''North Arm'' and ''Angas Inlet'' which surround ''Garden Island''. Before European settlement of Adelaide's western suburbs and the construction of various flood mitigation channels and levees, the Port River formed one of the outlets of the River Torrens. The banks of the river are largely industrialised and have some of Adelaide’s wharves, bulk cargo and container handling facilities, although there are some remnant mangroves. One of its main attractions other than transport is the Port River dolphins, which are the only wild dolphins in the world that live within a city. Besides shipping using the river’s main channel, a fishing fleet operates out of the ''North Arm'' which also has a speed boat club. Recreational boating marinas are located in the Angas Inlet and on the Lefevre Peninsula.. The ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation) has its construction and maintenance facility and dock at Osborne, and there is a heritage-listed former Quarantine Station on Torrens Island. Several power stations including the Torrens Island Power Station and the Pelican Point Power Station, draw seawater from the Port River for cooling purposes. The Port Adelaide Rowing Club has rowed on the river for one hundred and thirty years,〔(Messenger Community Newspapers Local News Adelaide South Australia )〕 and the river was formerly a frequent venue for the Intervarsity eights race. ==Environment== Prior to European settlement of the Adelaide Plains, winter rains over the catchment of the River Torrens created large seasonal inflows of fresh water into the Reedbeds wetlands, which drained north into the Port River and south to the Patawalonga. Since construction of the Breakout Creek outlet in the 1930s to drain the Reedbeds, and the closure of the former Port Adelaide Wastewater Treatment Plant with the diversion of wastewater to Bolivar in 2005, the upper reaches of the Port River now receive only limited amounts of locally derived stormwater, and are now largely marine. Flushing of the West Lakes occurs through a one-way system that takes in fresh seawater through an inlet off the coast at the southern end, and discharges into the upper reaches of the Port River. Despite clearing for industrial purposes since the early days of European settlement, mangrove forests (consisting of only one species, ''Avicennia marina'' var resinifera) remain along the shores of Torrens Island, the North Arm which connects to Barker Inlet, and north of the ASC facility, adjacent to the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve on the Lefevre Peninsula. Spring tides are over 2½ metres AHD and at low tide mudflats are exposed near the outlet of the river, forming a breeding ground for blue swimmer crabs and other species. The Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, a 118 km² Dolphin sanctuary which was enacted by the 2005 ''Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act'' covers all of the Barker Inlet and the Port River. Bottlenose dolphins are often seen in the river, examining and following small boats and have become a well known tourist attraction with dolphin cruises departing from ''Queens Wharf''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Act 2005 )〕 The industrialised nature of the Port River has led to concern for the welfare of the bottlenose dolphin population and studies have shown that some of the dolphins have very high heavy metal burdens in comparison to dolphins elsewhere.〔Lavery, TJ, Kemper, CM, Sanderson, K, Schultz, CG, Coyle, P, Mitchell, JG, Seuront, L. (2009). Heavy metal toxicity of kidney and bone tissues in South Australian adult bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops adunucs). Marine Environmental Research, 67, 1 - 7.〕〔Lavery, TJ, Butterfield, N, Kemper, CM, Reid, RJ, Sanderson, K. (2008). Metals and selenium in the liver and bone of three dolphin species from South Australia, 1988 - 2004. Science of the Total Environment, 390, 77 - 85.〕 The mudflats at the mouth of the river are part of the Gulf St Vincent Important Bird Area.〔BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gulf St Vincent. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/07/2011〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Port River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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