Green Island (Cairns, Qld): 31 January 2007

Heavy rain, a less than ideal low tide and a low pressure system hanging around the coral sea were the conditions the Seagrass-Watch monitoring team had to contend with on Green Island, persevering they did manage to complete both sites, GI1 and GI2. 

 

Motupore Island (PNG): 26 & 31 January 2007

 

Eddie and Rickson taking down GPS points		Rickson and Eddie at BT1
	Jane Wia diving to estimate % covers

 

Chek Jawa (Singapore): 20-21 January 2007

First TeamSeagrass Field Orientation at Chek Jawa:  "It was a rather gloomy first field orientation for TeamSeagrass at Chek Jawa on 20 Jan 07. And it was not just due to the weather. Adelle and Choon Beng had earlier updated TeamSeagrass about the mass death at Chek Jawa. The carpet anemones seem to be bloating up and then exploding. Those that are still intact had distorted tentacles. Many were in 'pieces. Ball sea cucumbers (Phyllophorus sp.) seemed to 'deflate' like bad ping pong balls. A similar fate suffered by what seemed to have been Sandfish sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra). There were hundreds of these poor animals in various states of distress and death. The cause? Possibly the huge influx of freshwater from the Johor River due to the recent massive flooding there, following the highest recorded rainfall in 100 years. Chek Jawa lies just at the mouth of the Johor River. Locally, Singapore has also experienced record rainfall. All that freshwater probably affected the osmotic pressure of these marine animals. We're trying to find out more about this. On a more cheeful note, Siti and Wei Ling found Dugong feeding trails!!. Amidst the deaths, Chek Jawa still has a smiley dugong feeding trail! Indeed, we wish our favourite shore a speedy recovery." Text: Team Seagrass-Singapore.  TeamSeagrass Website Click here

 

Session II: Sunday was a slightly more cheerful day at Chek Jawa. One because the sun was shining and two because the transect points had been set up the previous day so I wasn't snapping like a snapping shrimp. All bright and shiny on the boat-ride over to Pulau Ubin. After a quick briefing session and forming teams and meeting new friends, Team Seagrass trooped out to the flats of Chek Jawa to begin monitoring and were soon hard at work. Volunteers started work at site A with Shufen and I overlooking while Wei Ling brought the others over to site B. So in all, it was a good two days of field training :) Well done Seagrassers! I'll put up the results from both monitoring days soon. Till then, smile a lot and hug a seagrass!"  Text: Team Seagrass-Singapore.  TeamSeagrass Website Click here

 

Shelly Beach (Townsville, Qld): 20 January 2007

"With a low tide of 0.33m at 0306 on Saturday January 20th a band of 11 diehard Seagrass-Watchers rolled out for a touch of early morning monitoring, at SB1. Lucky they were diehard as we had to wait for the tide to drop and endure squalls of torrential rain. Valiant effort to those who participated and thanks to TSVQPWS that allow this night time monitoring to occur."  Text: Jane Mellors (Seagrass-Watch HQ)

 

 

 

Yule Point (Cairns, Qld): 20 January 2007

Seagrass-Watch HQ sampled Yule Point on Saturday.  Although the tides were not  the greatest, sampling was completed.   A new patch of Zostera capricorni was discovered close to YP1 (see pic below) with dugong feeding trails abundant at YP2.

 

 

 

Fiji: January 2007

Seagrass-Watch HQ visited Fiji in early 2007 to monitor the four Seagrass-Watch Sites on the islands of Viti Levu and Ovalau and catch up with Seagrass-Watch teams.  Below are images from Seagrass-Watch sites on Viti Levu - NN2, TQ1 and SV1, and on Ovalau - CW1 and CW2.

	Nadroga Navosa(NN2) 03 January 2007
	Coral Coast (TQ1) 03 January 2007
	Suva (SV1) 04 January 2007
	Cawaci (CW1 & CW2) 07 January 2007
	Levuka Reef 08 January 2007

 

 

 

Singapore: 14 January 2007

"The very 1st TeamSeagrass indoor orientation kicked off today with many people, great talks, yummy snacks and drinks! Everyone listened intently as Ria gave an introduction of our shores and what you can find there.  Next, Siti took over and gave us lots of juicy green details on seagrass biology and of SeagrassWatch. Of course, she also took pains to drive home the important message that "algae are not seagrasses!".  The fun part began when volunteers got into action and form groups to do 'dry runs'. Siti gave us a briefing and demonstration on what to do... Weiling also chipped in (with a serious look - we mean real seagrass business!) to get the ball rolling...Dr Shawn Lum, got some 'specimens' and helped explained the seagrass monitoring methods". Text: Team Seagrass-Singapore. 

 

 

 

Semakau (Singapore): 02 January 2007

"A frolicking great start to 2007. Team Seagrass spent the new year with the green and grassy denizens of Chek Jawa. We were joined by Chay Hoon of WildFilms and Joe Lai who did a survey of coastal plants of CJ. We were Seagrassers with a mission, and that was to do a bit of Halophila beccarii spotting and to plot the areas suitable for Seagrass-Watch transects.  And so we trekked across the flats of CJ, with a single-mindedness rarely seen (if ever) on previous recce trips. The reward was sweet and the weary pilgrims rejoiced by going down on all fours to meet these enigmatic little plants (and they were very little).  In keeping with tradition on its hallowed ground, we made a New Years' Day toast to Chek Jawa- may there be many more years of untouched glory - and to Team Seagrass :)" Text: Team Seagrass-Singapore.  TeamSeagrass Website Click here

 

 

 

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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.