Seagrass Volunteering
UNDER THE GUIDANCE of a team leader, volunteers from the Broome community meet every three months to monitor seagrass cover in Roebuck Bay.
Seagrass monitoring on Roebuck Bay
The monitoring, which has a strong scientific underpinning, involves recording the many unique marine creatures and Dugong trails found within the seagrass meadows. The seagrass ecosystem is so fascinating one could stay out there all day, but ushered by the tide, our monitoring objectives are usually met within two hours at each of our three sites.
New volunteers always welcome
New volunteers are always welcome, both adults and children, no experience necessary.
As you know Roebuck Bay has a very large tidal range, but did you know that low tides expose around 160 square km of mudflat? This is equivalent to around 45% of the total bay area. The most extensive seagrass meadows of the Bay occur in the Town Beach area, making it a hot spot for Dugongs, sea turtles and, of course, lots of other wonderful creatures that inhabit the locality!
Seagrass meadows are generally susceptible to changes in water quality and environmental quality, which make them a useful indicator of environmental health. They are also one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems globally, being important feeding grounds for a vast range of marine organisms. Did you know that about 40 times more animals occur in seagrass meadows than in bare sand? One of the most important roles of seagrass is providing a nursery and shelter area for fish and prawns. The juveniles of some important species of fish depend on seagrass meadows. These include perch, mullet, whiting, bream, snapper and emperors.
The Broome Seagrass Monitoring Project is part of a global scientific monitoring program called “Seagrass-Watch”. Monitoring is now occurring in 259 sites across 17 countries! It’s vital for us to keep an eye on our local seagrass meadows and we couldn’t do it without YOUR help
Seagrass Monitoring Dates – May 2012
Sun afternoon 6th May: Town Beach – meet at 4:00 pm for 4:15 pm start
Tue morning 8th May: Demco Beach – meet at 5:00 am for 5:20 am start
Wed morning 9th May: Port slipway – meet at 5:45 am for 6:00 am start
Contact: Kylie Weatherall & Julia Rau, Broome Community Seagrass Monitoring Project, West Kimberley Nature Project, Environs Kimberley. Ph (08) 9192 1922 or Mob 0400 665 524.
Find out more about Seagrass. Visit our Roebuck Bay Seagrass page.
