Seagrass Monitoring
Seagrasses are one of the most important plants on the planet. They are the only flowering plants that can live underwater. They are the main food of turtles and dugongs. They provide habitat for thousands of species of smaller marine animals such as crabs, starfish, worms, snails, anemone and of course fish and prawns which are commercially important. Seagrass plays a vital role in sustaining our fisheries.
Monitoring Dates for January 2012:
- January 26 – Meet at 5:30 am for 5:45 am start – Port Slipway
- January 27 – Meet at 5:30 am for 5:45 am start – Demco Beach
- January 28 – Meet at 6:45 am for 7:00 am start – Town Beach
No previous experience necessary. Please wear closed shoes (they’ll get muddy!), bring your hat and waterbottle. For more information contact Kylie on 9192 1922 or email seagrass@environskimberley.org.au
Seagrass is an extremely efficient “blue carbon sink”. Seagrass feeds bacteria, which are the bottom of the ocean food chain, so seagrass feeds the whole food web.
Seagrass absorbs nutrients from coastal run-off and stabalises sediment, helping to keep water clean. Seagrass is an “indicator species” with its health state indicative of the health of the broader coastal area.
Seagrass is being lost globally at the rate of one football field per half hour due to human impacts such as pollution and run-off, boating, dredging and coastal development. The rate of loss is accelerating – we lost 1% per year before 1940, to 7% per year since 1990. We have lost 29% of seagrass since 1980. The rate of seagrass loss is comparable to the loss of tropical rain forests.
It is important to conduct regular scientific monitoring of seagrass to protect it. In Broome, three sites are regularly monitored in the internationally important Roebuck Bay.
Community volunteers are vital to the success of monitoring efforts, which must be completed witnin a small window of time – usually only a couple of hours – when the lowest tides occur at Roebuck Bay.
The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project is co-managed by Environs Kimberley and the Department of Environment and Conservation, with funding from Coastwest and the Port of Broome.