Seagrass Nursery Unveiled In Airlie Beach

A new expanded seagrass nursery
has been unveiled in Airlie Beach
which will support the enhancement
of degraded seagrass meadows,
helping to build their resilience against the
increasing impacts of climate change.
CMERC Director, Professor Emma Jackson,
said the new expanded nursery, which
is part of the Coastal Marine Ecosystem
Research Centre, would play a crucial role
in seagrass restoration in the region.
“Seeds collected from nurseries are used
to re-seed damaged or fragmented meadows,
helping to improve their overall condition
and resilience,” Professor Jackson
explained.
“This upscaled initiative which is hosted
by the Coral Sea Marina Resort in Airlie
Beach builds upon the success of the pilot
nursery, which demonstrated outstanding
seagrass growth and serves as a model for
other areas,” she said.
“The new nursery is three times larger
than the pilot nursery and will enhance
our capacity for seagrass restoration, but
also have more accessibility for local community,
schools and tourists to visit and
learn about this important habitat.”
The project is working with Traditional
Owners as custodians of Land and Sea
Country to deliver restoration activities
and build capacity. As part of the project,
CQUniversity has employed two local Traditional
Owners to maintain the nursery
and safeguard the seagrass.
“This collaboration underscores our commitment
to integrating traditional knowledge
with scientific practices. Community
members can also volunteer to help collect
seagrass flowers, with multiple events held
each year.”
The nursery is part of the Great Barrier
Reef Foundation’s Reef Islands Initiative
Whitsunday Seagrass restoration Project
and is a partnership with the Great Barrier
Reef Foundation, CQUniversity, Reef
Catchments, the Coral Sea Marina Resort
and Ngaro and Gia Traditional Owners.
Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s Reef Islands
Initiative Senior Program Manager
Clarissa Elakis said the importance of seagrass
to the Great Barrier Reef could not
be overstated.
“The Pioneer Bay seagrass meadows are
an important nursery and food source
for endangered species like the turtle and
dugong and help filter pollutants like fine
sediment and nutrients from the water.
But they also have another critical job –
mitigating climate change by storing carbon.
“However, as the climate continues to
change, the Reef ’s seagrass meadows are
struggling to recover from increasingly
severe and frequent cyclones like Cyclone
Ului and Cyclone Debbie which severely
impacted the region’s seagrass meadows in
2010 and 2017.
“The new expanded seagrass nursery will
give local seagrass meadows an additional
boost toward recovery.”
Professor Jackson said the increasing impact
of climate change and water quality
had been felt by seagrass meadows worldwide.
“Initiatives such as this play an important
role in building the health and resilience
of these important marine environments.”
The Reef Islands Initiative is supported by
funding from Lendlease, the Australian
Government’s Reef Trust, the Queensland
Government and the Fitzgerald Family
Foundation, and locally coordinated by
Reef Catchments.

Opening of the Sea Grass Nursery, Photos supplied

Sea Grass Nursery

‍