Stockton Beach is located north of the Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia.

It is 32 km (20 mi) long and stretches from Stockton, to Anna Bay. Over many years Stockton Beach has been the site of numerous shipwrecks and aircraft crash sites. In World War II it was fortified against a possible attack by Imperial Japanese forces.[1] During that time it served as a bombing and gunnery range as well as a dumping area for unused bombs by aircraft returning from training sorties.[2] The length of the beach, its generally hard surface and numerous items of interest along the beach make it popular with fourwheel drive (4WD) enthusiasts. Four-wheel drive vehicles are permitted to drive on Stockton Beach provided the vehicles are in possession of valid permits.[3] The beach is also popular with fishermen and several different varieties of fish may be caught.[1][2] Stockton Beach, on the Tasman Sea, starts on the northern side of the break wall that protects the entrance to Newcastle harbour in Stockton, Newcastle's northern most suburb, and stretches for 32 km (20 mi) in an approximate north-easterly direction to Anna Bay in Port Stephens. In some areas it is as much as 1 km (0.6 mi) wide and has sand dunes over 30 metres (98 ft) high although at the Stockton end it is at its narrowest with no dunes. Each year the dunes move north by approximately 4 m (13 ft).[1] The sand on Stockton Beach varies from hard to soft packed and changes daily with the changing winds and weather.[2] The dunes are the largest continuous mobile sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere

Tourism
The beach is a popular camping area, at times there can be 200 camp sites with 2,000 people camped along the dunes. During the day, up to 4,000 people and thousands of cars can be on the beach.[25] [edit]

Sand mining
Sand mining is practised on Stockton beach.[27] This has led to a significant loss of tertiary vegetation in the hind dunes of the beach which has led to a noticeable decrease in the numbers of native species sightings, for example the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Sugar glider.[28] [edit]

Wildlife
The waters just off Stockton Beach form part of a larger nursery for Great white sharks.[29][30] The Great white sharks in the nursery are thought to range in size from 1.5 to 3 m (4.9 to 9.8 ft).[29] Humpback

whales can be spotted from the beach each year during the migration season [31]
Issues regarding stocton beach 1. Population 85% population live on the coast

2. Population and waste management tourist, camping 3. Tourism 4.