Prior to European settlement the ecology of the Sydney area was both unique and diverse.  This diversity meant that particular elements of Sydney's ecology were already uncommon or sparsely distributed over a large area before settlement.  As European agricultural practices were employed across the area, whole sub-regions of native vegetation, and the associated ecosystems, were removed.

The Commonwealth Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 lists five Threatened Ecological Communities in the Sydney area:

• Blue Gum High Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion
• Cumberland Plains Woodland
• Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub
• Shale/Sandstone Transition Forest
• Turpentine-Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion.

The NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 currently lists 139 species, 9 populations and 21 ecological communities as endangered or vulnerable in the Sydney Metropolitan CMA region. For a current list visit the Threatened Species website.

The NSW Fisheries Management Act 1995 was established to manage and conserve fisheries in NSW.  The Act recognised that without management and/or conservation of key habitats then certain fisheries had the potential to collapse.  The Act lists Endangered, Vulnerable and Extinct species including fish, invertebrates and seaweeds.  The species that occur in the SMCMA area are shown in the table below:

Species Listed under the Fisheries Management Act 1995