Thompson Beach, South Australia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Thompson BeachSouth Australia |
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 Thompson Beach
Location in South Australia
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| Established | 1997 | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 5501 | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | ACST (UTC+9:30) | ||||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | ACST (UTC+10:30) | ||||||||||||||
| Location | 56 km (35 mi) north of Adelaide city centre | ||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Adelaide Plains Council | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Narungga | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||||||||
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| Footnotes | Location Coordinates Climate Adjoining localities |
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Thompson Beach is a small coastal town in South Australia, a state in Australia. It's found on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) north of Adelaide.
This area began as a planned community in 1980. Its official boundaries were set in June 1997. Most of the land here is used for homes, with buildings spread out and not too close together. Thompson Beach is part of the Adelaide Plains Council for local government. It also belongs to the federal area called the Division of Grey and the state area known as Narungga.
Crabbing Fun at Thompson Beach
Thompson Beach is super famous for its amazing blue swimmer crabs! The best time to find these crabs is usually from October to April. The beach here is very flat and gently slopes into the water. This means you can walk hundreds of meters out into the sea when the tide is low, and the water will still be below your knees. This creates a huge area perfect for crabbing.
How to Catch Blue Swimmer Crabs
People often use special tools called crab rakes to catch these crabs. They look for them around patches of seagrass. It's important to be gentle when you handle the crabs so you don't hurt them.
Rules for Sustainable Crabbing
There are strict rules to follow to make sure there are always enough crabs for everyone. These rules are set by PIRSA.
- You can only catch a certain number of crabs each day. For one person, the daily limit is 20 crabs (this includes sand crabs too).
- If you are in a boat with three or more people, your group can catch up to 60 crabs in total per day.
- Crabs must be at least 11 centimeters (about 4.3 inches) long to be kept.
- If you catch a female crab with eggs on the outside of her body, you must let her go right away. This helps new crabs hatch and keeps the population strong.
In recent years, there's been a big focus on crabbing in a way that protects the environment. This means encouraging people to be relaxed and careful, so they don't harm the crabs or their home.
