Jan 10: In this issue you can read how seagrasses are the coastal canaries of water quality on the Great barrier Reef.
Other articles include: impacts of seaweed farms; the Samoan tsunami; threats to seagrass in India; mapping in Madagascar; restoration in Portugal; monitoring in Broome, Cape York, Torres Strait & Fiji; MangroveWatch; and giant clams........ more

17 Nov 09: Highly endangered coastal habitats are incredibly effective in sequestering carbon and locking it away in soil, according to a new paper in a report by the IUCN. Coastal habitats—such as mangroves, sea grasses, and salt marhses—sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon in their soil per hectare as tropical forest............ more

06 Oct 09: The Blue Carbon report, compiled in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), puts some hard figures on the carbon capturing potential of the marine environment and on the impact of marine degradation on climate change........... more

Broome: 3-5 Jan 10: Nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, crabs, sea snakes and feather stars were just some of the living marine treasures found in the seagrass meadows of Roebuck Bay during our monitoring events on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This season the seagrass coverage at two of the three sites was looking thick and luscious.............gallery

Seagrass-Watch is the largest scientific, non-destructive, seagrass assessment and monitoring program in the world. Since it's genesis in 1998 in Australia, Seagrass-Watch has now expanded internationally to 26 countries.  Monitoring is now occurring at approximately 259 sites across 17 countries and an additional 9 countries participate but are currently at resource identification stage.

Seagrass-Watch aims to raise awareness on the condition and trend of nearshore seagrass ecosystems and provide an early warning of major coastal environment changes.  Seagrass-Watch monitoring efforts are vital to assist with tracking global patterns in seagrass health, and assess the human impacts which have the potential to destroy or degrade these coastal ecosystems and decrease their yield of natural resources. Responsive management based on adequate information will help to prevent any further significant areas and species being lost. To protect the valuable seagrass meadows along our coasts, everyone must work together.