Archive: 2005

Visit the beach for science

Magnetic Times, 13 July 2005

Enjoy wandering about on Magnetic Island’s beaches and mudflats? If the answer is yes then you may also enjoy doing the same thing with a scientific and environmentally useful purpose. Seagrass-Watch is the biggest community based seagrass monitoring program in the world and it is something you can participate in right here on Magnetic Island.

On Sunday July 18 and Monday 19th Seagrass-Watch volunteers will be visiting two important seagrass locations on Magnetic Island. These will be the first opportunities for Islanders and visitors to join in with the Island locations.

Co-ordinator, Vivien McConnell told Magnetic Times, “Jane Mellor from Department of Primary Industry will lead the Cockle Bay group on Sunday and anybody who wants to come along and see what happens is welcome.”

A Townsville-based group is expected to arrive at Cockle Bay between 10.30am and 11am to begin the monitoring during the low tide period which follows.”

Vivien will be leading the group to Picnic Bay on Monday They will meet on the grass in front of Fred’s Restaurant also between 10.30am and 11am before heading towards the Butlers Creek (northern) end of the beach where the monitoring site is located.

The Seagrass-Watch program has a simple philosophy of involving those who are concerned, and involves collaboration/partnerships between community, qualified scientists and the data users (environment management agencies). People involved in the program develop a deep sense of custodianship and understanding of their local marine environments that reaches throughout the wider community.

Since it's genesis in 1998 in Australia, Seagrass-Watch has expanded to the Indo and western Pacific, with volunteers in Micronesia, Palau, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. Monitoring is now occurring at approximately 150 sites.

Source and article: Click Here

Residents assist in Seagrass Protection

Townsville Bulletin, Monday, June 6, 2005, page 2

Twin Cities residents took to Pallarenda at the weekend to assist in the protection of the North's seagrass as part of World Environment week.

Townsville is home to a large population of dugong and sea turtles, whose favourite meal is seagrass, along the Townsville coast. Seagrass provides a habitat for many smaller marine animals, some of which, like prawn and fish, are commercially important. They also absorb nutritents from coastal run-off and stabilise sediment, helping to keep the water clear.

In the Townsville region, there are many seagrass meadows along Cape Cleveland, The Strand, Cape Pallarenda and around Magnetic Island. Seagrass-Watch is biggest seagrass monitoring program in the world since it was started in Australia in 1998.

Townsville's area of seagrass in the region is about 130sq km. In April 2000, intertidal seagrass meadows in the Townsville region were decimated by a cyclone, however they are now recovering.

Picture: Watchful Eye: Seagrass-Watch volunteer Michelle Jones at Pallarenda. Photo Evan Morgan.

Article : Leonie Johnson.

Managing Water Quality

Cairns Post, Tuesday, May 31, 2005, page 30

Declining water quality is one of the major threats affecting the Great Barrier Reef, so it's only natural that many different groups and individuals want to work together to help manage this issue.

Together, governments, industries and the community are identifying water quality issues and implementing new ways to improve the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef.

WHO MANAGES WATER QUALITY IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Declining water quality in the Great Barrier Reef is and issue that affects all of us and is also one that we have some affect on. A range of organisations and individuals are working together to help improve water quality in the Reef including:

Landowners
Industry groups that represent the farming sectors and other bussiness sectors
Community groups such as Landcare, Waterwatch, Seagrass-Watch and Catchment Management Groups
Regional Natural Resource Management Groups
Australian, State and Local Governements

WHAT IS THE GREAT BARRIER REEF MARINE PARK AUTHORITY'S ROLE?

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has identified that changes in landuse has resulted in increasing loads of sediments, nutrients and chemicals being discharged from the catchment into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The increased discharge of these materials affects water quality, which impacts on the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority focuses on raising awareness of how people can take action to minimise their impacts on the Reef by working with communities, industries and governements. All people, no matter where they live, can do their bit to help reverse declining water quality and keep the Reef great for future generations to enjoy.

REEF WATER QUALITY PROTECTION PLAN

The Queensland and Australian governments are working together to improve the water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park through the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. The goal of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan is to "halt and reverse the decline in the water quality entering the Reef within 10 years".

WATER QUALITY MONITORING

As part of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority will implement a water quality and ecosystem health monitoring program within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The monitoring program will be undertaken by research bodies, government and universities with support from community monitoring programs such as Seagrass-Watch.

Information collected by each of these groups will be analysed and interpreted to provide the basis for reporting on the status of water quality and ecosystem health of the Marine Park.

The health of seagrass, corals, and other marine species will be monitored along with indicators such as sediments, chlorophyll, nutrients and pesticidies.

DOING YOUR BIT TO LOOK AFTER IT

By doing your bit to help reverse the declining water quality in the Great Barrier Reef, you are helping all of these groups to manage water quality. Please help us look after the Great Barrier Reef by becoming involved in groups that help to protect our coasts and oceans such as your local Catchment Management Group, Landcare, Waterwatch or Seagrass-Watch.

Pictures: Destructive: Cities perched on the water's edge (above) and farm practises (below) can impact on water quality.

Comans' work not forgotten

The Chronicle, Friday, April 22, 2005, page 8

The "GRANDFATHER" of Hervey Bay's award winning seagrass and dugong monitoring program, Jerry Comans, has died. Mr Comans passed away at his home in Scarness on Tuesday after succumbing to cancer. He was aged 75.

A former charter boat operator with more than 30years' experience in the region, Mr Comans helped start Seagrass-Watch, a community group dedicated to preserving the region's seagrass beds. The beds are vital to the survival of the hundreds of dugong that live in the Fraser Coast waterways.

The Hervey Bay Dugong and Seagrass Monitoring Program started in 1997 in response to concerns that the seagrass beds were not recovering from the 1992 floods that killed off 1000 square kilometres of meadows.

With the help of many volunteers and local school children, they mapped much of the inter-tidal area between Burrum Heads and Point Vernon and parts of the Sandy Strait.

The work has been invaluable in understanding the dugong habitat. This was offically recognised when the program won the Prime Minister's Enviroment Award.

Mr Comans is survived by his wife, Lynne, four children, 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Picture: Jerry Comans (standing, right) with students and teachers learning about the seagrass monitoring program.

Seagrass mapping

ABC News Online, Wednesday, 9 February 2005

Presenter: David Cussons

Mapping north Queensland's seagrass beds is not as simple as you might think. Quiet apart from the vast distances involved, who wants to get in water frequented by crocs and stingers?

That's the dilemma of Dr Mike Rasheed, whose job it is to map and monitor important seagrass habitats within and close to Queensland’s ports.

Seagrass is the only flowering plant that can live underwater and it's been growing on the ocean floor since the time of the dinosaurs.

In Australia, we have more types of seagrass than anywhere else in the world and in Queensland alone, dugongs and turtles can feast on 15 different species. Seagrass beds also provide a nursery habitat for commercially important prawns and fish, and are useful indicator of the health of the local marine environment - regular monitoring of seagrass can act as an early warning system of any problems such as pollution.

Mike's job is to work with port authorities to protect seagrass meadows that may be in the middle of a busy shipping thoroughfare. He currently works with eight Queensland ports - Mourilyan, Cairns, Thursday Island, Mackay, Karumba, Weipa, Skardon River and Gladstone.

Mike helps port authorities work out where to dredge and how to best plan for any expansion of their operations. Some ports, such as Gladstone, are also within Dugong Protected Areas and have a responsibility to look after these animals.

Mike’s work takes him to plenty of remote locations and he often has to work around the threat of crocs or stingers. In croc infested areas where it’s not safe to dive, the team lower a remote-controlled video camera off the side of their boat.

In areas where the tide gets very low, they can also survey seagrass from a helicopter.

Source and article: Click Here

Seagrass 3M workshop: Mapping, Monitoring & Management, Sanur, Bali - 9 to 12 May 2005

This workshop brings together scientists and managers from across Indonesia and neighbouring countries, to learn techniques for the assessment and management of seagrass meadows.

Co-hosted by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries and The Nature Conservancy, Southeast Asia Center for Marine Protected Areas, with funding from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation (through the University of New Hampshire), the workshop will be held over three and a half days at Sanur Beach, Bali.

Participants will learn how to identify seagrass, and how to map their extent. The workshop will also focus on the SeagrassNet and Seagrass-Watch monitoring protocols and how to establish a site. The final part of the workshop will discuss approaches and methods for protecting seagrasses as part of Marine Protected Areas.

Places are available for 20 invited participants. Funds are available to assist Indonesian participants with domestic travel and workshop/living expenses.

Workshop contact address

Len McKenzie or Rob Coles,
Northern Fisheries Centre
P. O. Box 5396, Cairns, Australia.
Tel: No: (+61) 7 4035 0131; Fax No: (+61) 7 4035 4774
E-mail:Len.McKenzie@dpi.qld.gov.au

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