Shallow Inlet is a marine inlet, opening on to Waratah Bay on the western side of the Yanakie Isthmus in South Gippsland, Victoria, south-eastern Australia. It lies close to the small holiday communities of Sandy Point and Yanakie, as well as to Wilsons Promontory and the Wilsons Promontory National Park.
The inlet is a shallow 18 km2 tidal embayment with a single channel to the sea. On the seaward side it is enclosed by a barrier of sandy spits, bars and mobile dunes. The extensive intertidal mudflats and areas of sand provide habitat for waders, or shorebirds. Fringing the mudflats are areas of saltmarsh.[1]
The inlet has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports over 1% of the world populations of Double-banded Plovers and Red-necked Stints, and has supported the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot.[2] Other birds recorded as using the site in significant numbers include Eastern Curlews, Pacific Golden Plovers, Curlew Sandpipers and Sanderlings.