Mabuiag Island (Torres Strait, Australia): 29 - 30 September 2009

Mabuiag Island had been experiencing quite a dry time, the rain tanks were empty and the dam was low. That was until we came to monitor the seagrass, at about 1:30am on the 29th it rained really heavily waking most people up, but by 4:30 as we were preparing for the monitoring the rain had eased back to a drizzle – nothing that was too daunting. So we set off in the dark (after scanning for crocs of course!) and marked out the site, started monitoring and then suddenly the heavens opened up and totally drenched us. Visibility became so poor we had to call off the monitoring and finish up the next day. You can’t complain though as the rain was much needed and it was exhilarating being out in and at times against the elements. Text Jane Mellors

	Seagrass Education in Torres Strait:

A ranger youth day was held after the rangers monitored MG1. It kicked off about 9:00am with children registering for the art competition and then busily creating masterpieces. In the afternoon while the judges decided on the art work, the children listened to talks on Seagrass ecology, learnt to identify seagrass and made turtle masks. Even the big kids got involved. We then did beach clean-up netting in total 6 very large garbage bags of rubbish. We ended the day with a sausage sizzle. A big Esso thanks to Abbi, Aaron, Annie and Mathew for helping out on the day, also to the art judges Sophie, Grace and Father Frank, and a further esso to Father Frank for blessing our Ranger Youth Day. Text Jane Mellors

Townsville (Nth Qld, Australia): 15 - 19 September 2009

	Shelley Beach: SB1 & SB2 : 15-16 September 2009
	Bushland Beach: BB1: 17 September 2009
	Magnetic Island MI1 & MI2 : 18-19 September 2009

Mission Beach (Far Nth Qld, Australia): 17 - 18 September 2009

	Lugger Bay: LB1 & LB2: 17 September 2009
	Dunk Island : DI1 & DI2: 18 September 2009

Cullen Point, Mapoon (Qld, Australia): 17 - 18 September 2009

Mer Island (Torres Strait, Australia): 14 - 15 September 2009

The Mer (don't forget to roll the "r") Island workshop was held at the Murray Island Guest House on September 14-15. We started the workshop with a blessing from James Ahmat one of the Badu rangers, who had travelled from a Western Island to undertake this training. The workshop went well with lots of sharing particularly in relation to word usage and my terrible Miriam Mer accent. Luckily for me Moses Wailu and John K Tabo were on hand to translate. Feedback was positive not only on the educational aspects but also the great kai kai provided by Ella, Loco and Max. Thanks to everyone who attended and to those who made the workshop possible. Text Jane Mellors

	MR1 15 September 2009

There was a great turnout of people to assist Moses and John monitor MR1. All the participants with their newly honed skills were ready to take on the Seagrass-Watch Challenge. After doing a couple of quadrats together, we split into transect teams and went forth. There was quite a lot of sludgy brown algae on top of the seagrass, but Moses assures me that is a seasonal phenomena. Well hopefully we will be able to confirm that next year if the sites are still being monitored. There was lots of mokepu (spider conches) around and some of the luckier people saw a baby cray.  Text Jane Mellors

We wish to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on whose land we held our workshop and whose sea area we collected our seagrasses for this workshop. We thank the traditional owners for granting us access to their land and sea areas Text Jane Mellors

Suva (Fiji): 12 September 2009

Two seagrass sites were surveyed on Saturday by students from the International School in Suva and post-graduates from USP.  For the International School this was their second monitoring for the year of their SV1 site, which was organised by their teachers, Ms Howard and Mrs Tora.  For the second site (SV2), it was the first time that was surveyed for the year. Many thanks to Dr Gilianne Brodie and her postgraduate students.  Text Posa Skelton