Join us for an early morning adventure as we set out to monitor the health of our local seagrass communities. Enjoy the pindan track that leads us to the incredible Black Ledge site. Look out for plenty of intertidal critters crawling in the mud as we make our way across the exposed seagrass meadow, collecting vital ecological data.

We will start the morning at 5:30am with a hot drink and snacks (email us if you have any specific dietary requirements) followed by a safety and training induction before commencing the survey across the mudflats.  Please ensure you bring the following:

• Sun protection: the Kimberley sun packs a punch, please ensure you wear protective clothing such as t-shirt/long sleeve shirt and a hat.
• Water bottle: save waste and bring your own bottle, we will provide water to re-fill.
• Reef shoes: the mud flats are very sticky! We recommend you wear reef boots to protect your toes from the many intertidal creatures and potential sharp rocks/coral. We will provide boots you can borrow if you do not have your own.

Please meet our team at the location below. Contact Alex our seagrass officer if you need help locating us or have any questions about the project.

If you would like an idea of what the survey involves, please see our training video below:

BROOME COMMUNITY SEAGRASS MONITORING PROJECT TRAINING VIDEO on Vimeo

You can learn more about the project by visiting our website: Seagrass Monitoring Project - Environs Kimberley

We hope to see you out on the mudlfats!

Contact: Alex – Seagrass Project Officer

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0472721606 

Distance from town centre: 30 mins drive (4WD recommended - the section of Crab Creek Road, which is dirt, can be in poor condition)

Enjoy the stunning Kimberley sunrise as you participate in vital research of Roebuck Bay's seagrass meadows! Take in the vast exposed mudflats with the fresh morning air and beautiful colours, as we conduct surveys on the seagrass plants and seeds. Learn about the many ocean critters we may find along the way, whilst also spotting dugong feeding trails.

We will start the morning at 5:15am with a hot drink and snacks (email us if you have specific dietary requirements), followed by a safety and training induction before commencing the survey across the mudflats.  Please ensure you bring the following:

• Sun protection: the Kimberley sun packs a punch, please ensure you wear protective clothing such as a t-shirt/long sleeve shirt and a hat.
• Water bottle: save waste and bring your own bottle, we will provide water to re-fill.
• Reef shoes: the mud flats are very sticky! We recommend you wear reef boots to protect your toes from the many intertidal creatures and potential sharp rocks/coral. We will provide boots you can borrow if you do not have your own.

Please meet our team at the location below. Contact Alex our seagrass officer if you need help locating us or have any questions about the project.

If you would like an idea of what the survey involves, please see our training video below:

BROOME COMMUNITY SEAGRASS MONITORING PROJECT TRAINING VIDEO on Vimeo

You can learn more about the project by visiting our website: Seagrass Monitoring Project - Environs Kimberley

We hope to see you out on the mudflats!

Contact: Alex – Seagrass Project Officer

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0472721606

Meet near the Broome Port Slipway entrance.

Distance from town centre: 10 mins drive

GPS coordinates: -12.967874, 122.290245 

Join us for our seagrass monitoring event in Broome's magnificent Roebuck Bay! Enjoy the magic of the sunrise and see how many creatures you can see moving around in the mud as we record vital ecological data on the health of our seagrass.

We will start the morning at 5:15am with a hot drink and snacks (email us if you have any specific dietary requirements), followed by a safety and training induction before commencing the survey across the mudflat.  Please ensure you bring the following:

• Sun protection: the Kimberley sun packs a punch, please ensure you wear protective clothing such as t shirt/long sleeve shirt, hat and sunscreen.
• Water bottle: save waste and bring your own bottle, we will provide water to re-fill.
• Reef Shoes: the mud flats are very sticky! We recommend you wear reef boots to protect your toes from the many intertidal creatures and potential sharp rocks/coral. We will provide boots you can borrow if you do not have your own.

Please meet our team at the location below. Contact Alex our Seagrass Officer if you need help locating us or have any questions about the project.

If you would like an idea of what the survey involves, please see our training video below:

BROOME COMMUNITY SEAGRASS MONITORING PROJECT TRAINING VIDEO on Vimeo

If you want to learn more about the project, visit our website: Seagrass Monitoring Project - Environs Kimberley

We hope to see you out on the mudflats!

Contact: Alex – Seagrass Project Officer

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 0472721606

Please meet our team near the Demco Rotunda, see the location details below.

Meet near the Demco Rotunda.

Distance from town centre: 5 mins drive. The Demco Rotunda is accessed from the old Meat Works Rd, off Clemenston St

GPS coordinates: -17.973812, 122.228776

Broome based conservation group Environs Kimberley says the Federal government’s approval of the Woodside North West Shelf extension to 2070 signals the death knell for Scott Reef, Australia’s most important oceanic reef 270km off the Kimberley coast.

“We need net zero by 2050 not new gas refineries to 2070 if we want to keep coral reefs like Scott Reef alive,” said Environs Kimberley Director Martin Pritchard.

“The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Murray Watt have taken the gas industry line which is contrary to expert organisations like the International Energy Agency, United Nations and climate scientists who say we can’t open up new gas basins if we want a safe climate,” Mr Pritchard said.

North West Shelf project. Photo: CCWA.

“People, especially young people, voted for a safe climate not the financial interests of oil and gas companies who now effectively have a licence to pollute until 2070,” said Mr Pritchard.

“The Albanese government will regret this decision as more climate catastrophes come our way and must take responsibility for that due to decisions like this.

“We now have no choice but to run the biggest campaign since James Price Point to protect Scott Reef and to make sure fracking doesn’t happen in the Kimberley,” said Mr Pritchard. 

Send your submission to save Scott Reef here. 

Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

Western Australia’s vast treasures of tropical landscapes, coral reefs and abundant marine life, and the forests of the south-west, shape our identity. The emphatic wins of the Australian Labor Party in WA come at a time when the challenges to the very things that are part of our DNA in this great State have never been greater.

West Australians and the nation issued a sweeping rejection of extreme right-wing politics, nuclear power and unrelenting attacks on nature. Instead, they have voted for action on climate change, real protection for nature and a clean energy future.

Scott Reef – coral wonderland at risk from oil and gas industrialisation. Photo: Alex Westover.

Meanwhile, climate change is in full force and sandgropers are paying billions of dollars to tackle the crisis. The lack of rainfall in the south-west is desperate. Another six months of low rainfall will be devastating for already parched rivers, creeks and aquifers. Perth doesn't have enough rainfall to reliably provide water to its 2.3 million people. Billions have been and are about to be spent on making seawater drinkable. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on repairing flood-damaged roads, bridges, homes and infrastructure following the January 2023 floods in the Kimberley's Fitzroy Crossing. Forest collapse began in earnest after last year’s five-month dry spell in the south-west summer.

Fitzroy Crossing bridge collapsing in the biggest flood in WA's recorded history. Photo: Andrea Myers.

The science is unequivocal; emissions from burning fossil fuels are driving us towards an unrecognisable WA devoid of forests, coral reefs and tropical savannah, not to mention the increase in temperatures. More days over 35° and 40° are about to make life much more challenging, even dangerous, especially for the very young and old. According to the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, Fitzroy Crossing is headed for 225 days over 40 degrees by 2090 if we keep burning fossil fuels at the same rate. The conservative International Energy Agency has said that no more new fossil fuel basins can be opened if we are to have a safe climate.

The Albanese government knows this is happening. The choice it faces now is whether to greenlight Woodside and unleash billions of tonnes of carbon emissions by extending the North West Shelf project to 2070, drill and kill Scott Reef, and frack the Kimberley, or have the courage to reject these retrograde industries to protect our climate. The wrong decisions would cause untold damage to our climate-stressed forests, reefs and water.

World’s most intact tropical savannah under threat from climate change. Photo: Damian Kelly.

Younger generations can see and understand what’s happening as they flock to political parties and candidates who vow to fight for the interests of a future climate that will render the world habitable, will Albo heed them?

Will his government keep our climate safe, reject the North West Shelf extension and invest in the biggest rollout ever of clean energy and green industries? With two terms of government ahead for an Albanese government, what will be the fate of future generations resulting from its decisions?

This is the week that will determine the Albanese government’s bequest to future generations.

This will be your legacy, Prime Minister.

Martin Pritchard has been working on conservation in Western Australia for 25 years and is the Executive Director of Broome based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

Environs Kimberley (EK) has rejected Woodside’s just-announced changes to its Browse gas project on Scott Reef as ‘tinkering around the edges’.

The WA EPA is now seeking public comment on Woodside’s five proposed ‘Section 43A’ changes which the company claims will reduce the project’s environmental risks and impacts.

Executive Director of EK, Martin Pritchard, said the proposed changes would in no way change the fact that the Scott Reef project should never be approved.

“Scott Reef is a natural jewel off the Kimberley coast. There is no way that drilling, processing and piping gas in this living marine environment could ever be made environmentally acceptable.

“In 2024 it was revealed via an FOI application that the EPA had formed the ‘preliminary view’ that Woodside’s Browse proposal was environmentally unacceptable.  According to the documents, the EPA cited threats to endangered whales and turtles and the risk of an oil spill and concluded that the project posed threats of serious or irreversible damage.

“Woodside’s tinkering has done nothing to change the reality that its project is unacceptable.

Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

“We are dealing with a global climate and extinction crisis caused in large part by fossil fuels. It makes absolutely no sense to locate a new fossil fuel project, which would result in millions of tonnes of additional GHG emissions, in an environment rich in rare and threatened marine life like Pygmy blue whales, dolphins, marine turtles and sea snakes, as well as countless fish and coral species.

“Instead of tinkering with the project and toying with the assessment process, Woodside should get serious and drop the whole proposal.”

Banner image: Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

One of EK's strategic goals is to work collaboratively to establish grassroots sustainable economies that enable thriving communities. We are excited to continue supporting the community-led conservation economy initiative The Wattleseed Collective.

EK’s Mandy Shovellor and Victor Warrell harvesting wattleseed. Photo: Holly Timperley.

Last year the growing social enterprise was successful in supporting community members to collect wattleseed on Country right across the west Kimberley from Bidyadanga to Fitzroy Crossing – no easy feat in the muggy heat of the Kimberley build-up season.

Selina Middleton, Mandy Shovellor, Ree-alla Oscar and Shaniqua Shaw cleaning wattleseed. Photo: Tessa Mossop.

Once the superfood seed was collected from trees, it was cleaned and processed on Country, and at our new premises at 9 Farrell Street in Broome, ready to be sent out to delight tastebuds across Australia. 

The Wattleseed Collective was also successful in attracting industry development funding raised by you – our generous community – through their chuffed campaign. The money raised goes towards wages for facilitators working with each language group, the costs of vehicles, food, fuel, roasting and grinding, and Elders’ time.

Beautiful healthy wattleseed in the process of being cleaned.

You can order your delicious, nourishing wattleseed from the EK shop here. It a great gift too.

You can read more about the Wattleseed Collective here.

Thank you all who continue to support the development of this sustainable conservation enterprise initiative.

A petroleum company’s attempts to offload stricken oil and gas infrastructure on an environmentally sensitive peninsula within the National Heritage-listed King Sound for a fraction of the value it was estimated to be worth should ring alarm bells for the WA Cook Government.

Environs Kimberley and Lock the Gate Alliance say the situation highlights the risks the fracking industry poses to the unique Kimberley region.

Deteriorated and inaccessible by vehicle: the causeway to the Point Torment well site. Photo: supplied.

Rey Resources is attempting to offload its Kimberley-based assets and 100%-owned subsidiary Gulliver Productions to an overseas company called China Guoxin Investment Holdings, after writing down the value of its assets from nearly $5 million to about $400,000. In response to this announcement, the ASX sent a series of questions to Rey probing the company's financial situation was sufficient to warrant its continued listing and expressing uncertainty over “the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

Documents obtained by Environs Kimberley under Freedom of Information reveal that in 2021, the three King Sound gas wells were a mess, with oil staining on the ground and wellhead corrosion, among 44 possible breaches departmental officials identified. It is unclear what, if any, remediation work Rey has undertaken since inspection. 

Environs Kimberley and Lock the Gate Alliance fears there is a significant risk that if Rey Resources successfully offloads its assets, they will be abandoned and the hefty rehabilitation bill will fall to the WA taxpayer, as has recently occurred with New Standard Energy and Advent Energy projects in the Kimberley. The stranding of these wells resulted in multi-million cleanup bills and potentially “profound” ecological damage.

Rey Resources' cleared drill pad at Point Torment. Photo: supplied.

Shortly before announcing this planned “disposal” deal to the ASX, Rey Resources also lodged a state petroleum exploration application to clear grid lines more than 3000 km long for seismic testing across a 5058 km2 tenement near Derby and south east of its existing wells in the Kimberley. Under current WA rules, these tenements are able to be fracked, should Rey apply to do so. This tenement is included in the proposed offload deal. 

Environs Kimberley recently wrote to the Foreign Investment Review Board, urging it to reject Rey’s attempts to offload its subsidiary and Kimberley assets. This followed letters to WA Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael expressing concerns over the company's plans. 

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said, “It was a reckless decision to allow drilling for oil and gas in the mangrove lined flats of King Sound in the first place. The cost of cleaning up the mess left behind in this remote and sensitive location will run to millions of dollars.

“The Department of Mines and Petroleum has let the drill sites deteriorate to the point where one of them is now inaccessible by vehicle and they’ve had to chopper in staff to investigate. 

“The department seems to let these oil and gas companies get away with poor management without consequences. The Petroleum Minister David Michael needs to take charge of the situation to make sure taxpayers aren't footing the clean-up bill for another oil and gas company. 

“It’s really clear that fracking in these areas would be an absolute disaster when the government departments can’t manage three wells and make companies accountable for poor practices.”  

The Stokes Bay well site. Photo: supplied.

Lock the Gate WA Coordinator Claire McKinnon said, “No oil and gas company should ever have been given permission to drill in an area as environmentally significant as the National Heritage listed King Sound.

“Rey must be forced to fund the decommissioning and closure of all the wells on its tenements. The WA taxpayer must not be left to once again pick up the clean up bill for an oil and gas company.

“This concerning situation shows why it’s so important that the Cook Government ban fracking in the Kimberley. 

“The high cost of unconventional gas extraction means it’s likely that if a fracking company was able to get a project going in the Kimberley, it would result in the drilling of many hundreds if not thousands of wells. 

“This sorry situation shows the Cook Government is not up to the task of adequately regulating a mere three conventional wells, let alone thousands of frack wells”.

Independent legal advice states there would be no obligation for the Western Australian Government to compensate any company that possesses a petroleum tenement, should the ban on fracking be expanded to the Kimberley.

This raises serious questions about the response from Premier Roger Cook, quoted in the media recently, suggesting there could be “legal consequences for the state”, should the ban be extended to include the Kimberley. 

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said, “The Premier’s claims are unfounded — we’re yet to see any evidence that there would be legal ramifications from a fracking ban.

“In fact we have legal advice from a barrister — whose career includes many years at the State Solicitor's Office — that shows exactly the opposite. 

Community protest in Broome. Photo: Alex Westover.

“The legal advice is clear — no compensation would be owed to companies who hold a petroleum license if the WA Labor Government banned fracking in the Kimberley.

“The WA Government banned fracking down south and around Perth and as far as we’re aware there was no compensation, so why won’t MPs do it for the Kimberley? 

“The Premier is aware of our legal advice, and we’ve told him, if he knows something that we don’t, we’re more than happy to have it legally reviewed. 

“West Australians won’t stand by while the Kimberley is sacrificed for no reason. Traditional Owners and Kimberley locals are calling for a ban. Community organisations are calling for a ban. And so are WA Labor’s voters. It’s time to act.”

Fremantle locals know fracking the Kimberley would be disastrous. Photo: John Reed.

Lock the Gate Alliance WA Coordinator Claire McKinnon said, “Voters aren’t about to be hoodwinked by Roger Cook’s claims that fracking isn’t going to expand in the Kimberley. 

“The fact is, US company Black Mountain has plans to frack in the Kimberley going through state and federal approval processes right now. 

“Lock the Gate Alliance and Environs Kimberley have galvanised an army of volunteers and supporters in Perth and Fremantle who are backing Kimberley communities in their call for a ban. 

“If the Cook Government refuses to ban fracking in the Kimberley, then it can expect the voters of Freo and Perth to send them a strong message at the ballot box at the upcoming election.”

Oil and gas companies are on notice following Buru Energy’s latest disastrous drilling project in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

The company revealed today that its recently drilled oil exploration well, 'Rafael Shallow', near the Manguel Creek system that flows into the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River, has found no oil. 

Buru Energy's Rafael Shallow well site.

The announcement today that the $5 million plus well was dry, as well as no social license for oil and gas, serves as a warning that the Kimberley is too risky to invest in.

Environs Kimberley Acting CEO, Martin Pritchard said: “The time for oil and gas in the Kimberley is over, the community doesn’t want it, it’s too damaging to the environment and climate and the financial risk is not worth it.”

"The Kimberley can be powered through renewable energy, this is the future where there are guaranteed returns on investment.

This dry well serves as a warning to oil and gas companies and investors, don’t even think about bringing this polluting industry here, move to renewables, make a safe bet and don’t ruin the Kimberley."

Manguel Creek – a culturally and ecologically significant creek system with springs that flow into the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River.