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Seagrass Watchers get Scientific About Coastal MonitoringLocal community groups are joining forces with marine scientists to monitor changes in the growth, distribution and composition of what is probably Queensland's most important marine plant - seagrass.
CRC Reef researchers at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries' Northern Fisheries Centre in Cairns are harnessing local knowledge to assist in mapping and monitoring seagrass habitats which are vital for fish, prawns, turtles and dugongs. In a collaborative effort with government agencies and regional communities, they have recently been helped with a federal government Natural Heritage Trust grant of $350,668 through the Coast and Cleans Seas program. The funding will support community-based Seagrass Watch projects in the Whitsunday and Hervey Bay regions with support from regional staff at the Queensland Department's of Environment and Heritage, and Primary Industries. Seagrass-Watch is a new program being developed with assistance by the CRC Reef Research Centre Ltd, community groups and volunteers. The aim of Seagrass-Watch is for community groups and volunteers to collect quality information on changes in seagrass meadow characteristics, such as the extent of coverage, position and depth of habitat, species composition, estimates of biomass, presence of dugong feeding trails and possible human impacts. "Seagrass-Watch programs will establish a reliable early warning system on the status of our seagrass resources, and a broad measure of changes in these resources," says senior research scientist Len McKenzie of the Seagrass Ecology Group. "Often, it is the residents of an area who have lived in the same place for many years that can provide the most precise information about changes to the marine environment," he said. In 1998, the Seagrass Ecology Group conducted the first in a series of training sessions to interested community members to develop Seagrass-Watch. Guidelines and scientific protocols for long-term monitoring of Hervey Bay's seagrass resources were developed with local QDEH staff and volunteers from the Seagrass and Dugong Monitoring Program. Participants were trained to identify local seagrass species, undertake rapid visual assessment methods, preserve seagrass samples for a herbarium, and collect data for interpretation in a Geographic Information System. "After training, volunteers and community groups are able to collect data from their region that will now give resource managers an indication of the extent of seagrass resources," said McKenzie. "They can also identify any areas of loss which may need particular attention." Coordinator of the Seagrass and Dugong Monitoring Program, Mr Jerry Comans, says grassroots action began in 1997 following a public meeting of concerned residents. "We wanted to know why it was taking so long for the seagrasses to recover from the 1992 floods that killed off nearly 1,000 square kilometres of meadows," he said. "With the subsequent 40 per cent drop in commercial net catches from the area, and concern over the dugongs food source, we wanted to do something about it." Mr Comans, retired charter boat operator with more than 30 years experience in the region, helped form the group to better understand and conserve marine resources. "Without seagrass Hervey Bay would be a desert," he said. "The DPI team have been great - really adding quality science to help us manage and protect seagrass meadows. We have now mapped most of the inter-tidal areas between Burrum Heads and Point Vernon. Each week we've been out taking site transects and photographs to send up to Cairns DPI with our data sheets."
Mr Comans says there is local support for the new Dugong Protection Area in Hervey Bay with increasing reports of dugong herds feeding offshore. "Commercial and recreational fishers have been seeing more dugong from their boats recently, and we are expecting them to move closer inshore as many of the meadows have now recovered," he said. Community groups and secondary schools in the Whitsunday and the Hervey Bay regions will begin formal training on seagrass mapping and monitoring in 1999. Aboriginal and Islander communities, and volunteer groups in other areas along the Queensland coast are also asking for assistance in monitoring techniques. A newly appointed Seagrass-Watch coordinator is helping to develop the program state-wide and a training manual and video is being produced. Overseas interest in the CRC Reef and DPI seagrass monitoring methods has grown. The Seagrass Ecology Group recently conducted similar training sessions to seagrass and fisheries scientists, and marine park staff in Thailand. Their mapping techniques and project management skills are now recognised as an Australian standard with international export potential. The success of the monitoring program depends on considerable input and feedback from community volunteers. Seagrass-Watch aims to be user-friendly with simple field sampling methods, uncomplicated data recording and handling, and prompt follow-up from the coordinator to ensure information is fully used in coastal zone management for continuous good health of fisheries and dugong populations. By Don Alcock
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