The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project involves Aboriginal rangers and community volunteers to regularly collect data and monitor the health of seagrass meadows in Roebuck Bay.
Background
Roebuck Bay’s seagrass meadows are the principal nursery and adult habitat for fish and invertebrates, and a food source for fish, invertebrates, turtle and dugong. They are a critical bio-indicator of the larger marine ecosystem’s health. Seagrass meadows globally are under threat from urbanisation, dredging, water pollution and climate change.
What we are doing
The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project was established in 2006 to provide an early warning of changes in the marine ecosystem. Coordinated by Environs Kimberley with support from Nyamba Buru Yawuru, Seagrass Watch, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and generous volunteers from the Broome community, it is one of the longest running and most successful citizen science projects in Western Australia.
The project follows the methodology of Seagrass-Watch, a global, scientific seagrass assessment and monitoring program with over 250 monitoring sites across 17 countries. The program has a strong scientific underpinning with an emphasis on consistent data collection.
Community volunteers are vital to the success of our monitoring efforts, which must be completed within a small window of time - usually only a couple of hours - when the lowest tides occur in Roebuck Bay.
New volunteers are always welcome! Come on down and walk out onto the mudflats with us, see dugong feeding trails and fascinating sea creatures whilst contributing to an important data set that helps us monitor the health of Roebuck Bay.
2023 Seagrass Monitoring dates:
- Wednesday 22 March - Sunday 26 March
- Friday 18 August - Tuesday 22 August
- Monday 13 November - Friday 17 November
Please RSVP via our events page.
Read More
Learn about Seagrass Watch methodology
Watch the training video:
Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Training Video
Partners and Funders
The Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project is coordinated by Environs Kimberley with support from Nyamba Buru Yawuru, Seagrass Watch, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and generous volunteers from the Broome community.
The project is funded by the Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program, Kimberley Ports Authority, DBCA and Rangelands NRM through the National Landcare Program.
For more information
Email [email protected], phone (08) 91921922 or get in touch via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (search “Broome Seagrass”).
