A perspective on seagrasses that inhabit the Southern Sandy Straits section of the Great Sandy Straits Marine Park.
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Written by Administrator
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Jul 27, 2010 at 03:33 AM |
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It was back again to Kauri Creek for Seagrass Watch on Saturday. Kauri Creek is one of those special places in the Great Sandy Straits where you continue to be amazed by what you observe there.
 En-route to Kauri Creek aboard Clive's boat
Long time Seagrass Watcher in the Great Sandy Straits region, Gordon Cottle, accompanied us on the trip. Gordon is about to retire from his Seagrass Watching duties - his experience and knowledge will be sorely missed.
 Gordon Cottle with some of the local Seagrass Watch crew
Long time local fishermen tell us that sea cucumbers were once commonplace in the Great Sandy Straits but virtually disappeared in the last 20 years. Hopefully this is a sign they are on their way back.
 Sea Cucumber
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Last Updated ( Jul 27, 2010 at 07:45 AM )
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Written by Administrator
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Apr 24, 2010 at 02:47 PM |
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We were pleased to be able to undertake a Seagrass Watch survey in Kauri Creek - the first time this has been conducted in the sector in a number of years
There appears to be a good cover at the intertidal and sub-tidal zones judging by the dugong feeding in the area. See the Mangrove Watch article for more details.
 Remnants of seagrass feeding washed up at Kauri Creek
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Last Updated ( Aug 08, 2010 at 06:17 PM )
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Written by Administrator
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Feb 28, 2010 at 09:10 AM |
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Seagrass Watch got underway in Pelican Bay (Inskip Peninsula) yesterday in fine conditions. Anecdotally our thoughts were that there had been an increase in general seagrass coverage in the area since the last observations taken some months ago.
 Seagrass watching in Pelican Bay 27 February 2009
 Transect sample observation
Amongst a myriad of life in the tidal flats we observed some anemonae - see pics below.
 Carpet anemone observed while seagrass watching
 Another anemone observed while seagrass watching
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Last Updated ( Feb 28, 2010 at 03:24 PM )
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Written by Administrator
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May 21, 2009 at 06:37 PM |
What are seagrasses
Seagrasses are a group of flowering plants that can live underwater. Like most land based plants, they produce flowers, fruit and seeds. They are not however related to terrestial grasses and in fact, are more closely related to lillies. Seagrasses should not be confused with seaweed (an algae), a more primitive plant than the seagrasses.
According to Seagrass-Watch, seagrass meadows are rated the third most vauable ecosystem globally after estuaries and wetlands (all three of these ecosystems co-exist in the Great Sandy Straits Marine Park and Ramsar listed wetlands).
There are over 30 species of seagrass in Australian waters out of around 60 species wordwide. |
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Last Updated ( Sep 17, 2009 at 08:06 PM )
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Read more...
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Written by Administrator
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May 21, 2009 at 04:56 PM |
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In 1992 severe flooding and subsequent cyclone were thought to be a major cause for seagrass dieback in the Great Sandy Straits Marine Park due to the resultant turbidity (suspended sediments) in the water. The turbidity restricted the amount of light getting through to the seagrasses preventing photosynthesis - critical to the biology of seagrasses and eventually leading to a dieback of seagrasses in the area. The following excerpts from an ABC Landline program produced in 1994 cover a range of seagrass issues from research, impact of fishing and recovery of seagrass meadows subsequent to the major flood event.
The movie runs for about 7 minutes and the size is 12mb - click the play button bottom left to start the movie.
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Last Updated ( May 23, 2009 at 08:03 AM )
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Seagrass 
