Suva (Fiji): 29 May 2010

Enthusiasm was the word of the day and there was plenty to go around as staff & students of International Secondary School (ISS) and students & staff of University of the South Pacific (USP), plus several other community volunteers proceeded to their survey sites SV1 and SV2.

A brief pep-talk by our beloved leader Dr. Posa Skelton and we were on our way. No one dared to mess with the meter long banded sea-snake that lay silently in a shallow pool of water. It lay there, oblivious to the fact that a group of over 25 humans were intent on wading around in its feeding ground. Dr. Gilianne stealthily got up just close enough to take a few snapshots.

We are looking forward to the next survey with IMR support and hope that we will be able to fully utilize this Year of Biodiversity as a vehicle for increased awareness and spreading the seagrass word. A big vinaka vakalevu to all the volunteers that turned up on the day.  Text: Matereti Iakobo Mateiwai

 

Cullen Point, Mapoon (Qld, Australia): 17 -18 May 2010

 

 

Torres Strait (Qld, Australia): 05 - 22 May 2010

We wish to acknowledge the traditional owners on whose sea areas we are monitoring.

Badu Island 05 - 07 May 2010

 

Badu Island (Torres Strait, Qld, Australia) On the 5 may 2010 we conducted our second monitoring at BD1. This was conducted by Troy, Frank, Dick and Jane. John Wigness also came over from the neighbouring village of St Pauls to see what is involved and if the Moa community could also be involved with Seagrass-Watch for Moa Island. All went well and about to establish a second site on a neighbouring beach. The most noticeable thing was the lower seed count this round.  Text Troy Stow

 

 

A second site was established on Badu at Upai. This bay/beach has an extensive seagrass meadow that extends all the way out to the fringing reef. The meadow inshore is a mix of Halodule uninervis and Halophila ovalis with pockets of Cymodocea rotundata and Thalassia hemprichii. The Cymodocea rotundata encountered was burnt. The meadow had relatively high counts of small trochus and gastropods. Text Jane Mellors

	Education day 18 May 2010

 

We monitored the intertidal seagrass meadows around the Kaurareg nation between May 18 and 22. The trip started off with an education day with three Dugong ant Turtle Project Officers (DTPO) from the central and North western Island clusters. Ashleigh, Herbit and Tenny came from Iama, Sabai, and Dauan respectively. The education day was a taste for them to see what monitoring training would be like and whether this was the sort of activity they would like to undertake on their islands. They were put through some talks on seagrass taxonomy and the methodology we use to monitor intertidal seagrass meadows. They then accompanied Tagai College on their rounds of monitoring.

	Hammond Island 19 May 2010

 

The first site we monitored was HD1. None of the grade 12 were able to join us on this trip due to final year assessment. Instead Mr H brought over his Year 10 Marine Studies class, with a trained observer on each transect the students joined in. a couple of the boys remember doing Seagrass-Watch with Dr Jane back in primary school on Horn Island so they knew what to expect, the other students grasped the concepts very quickly and monitoring was completed.

	Thursday Island 20 - 21 May 2010

 

Next site was TI2. The grade 12s were able to join us this time and they quickly organised the Year 11 Marine Studies class into groups to get the monitoring finished. Friday the 21st saw us monitor TI1 Back Beach. It was pretty average day of monitoring apart from finding an octopus. Jane however did add to the amusement of the day by falling [over] when her legs got stuck in the mud. The DTPO proved to be a big help and helped us get the monitoring down well before the tide turned.

	Horn Island 22 May 2010

 

Finally the last day and it was just the regular crew who went across to Horn Island to monitor HI1 at Wongai. The seagrass cover looked down with quite a lot of the seagrass burnt. Well that's it for this month, Back to the dawn starts for August monitoring - yeah!! Text by Jessica Cox. Additional text by Jane Mellors

 

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Correct citation: McKenzie, LJ., Yoshida, RL. & Coles, RG. (2006 - 2010). Seagrass-Watch. www.seagrasswatch.org. 228pp. Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Queensland Government. Website designed by McKenzie, LJ., Yoshida, RL.