industry & research campusreview . com . au
Posidonia adventure
UNSW project aims to save the carbon-capturing sea meadows .
By Shaney Hudson
Local residents in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW are being recruited for a new marine habitat restoration project .
Called Operation Posidonia , the project aims to restore endangered sea grasses in areas where they provide a critical habitat for marine life , and comes after a successful pilot project in nearby Port Stephens that saw over 1500 seagrass shoots collected by the community .
“ Lake Macquarie is a really exciting new venture , because we know the community value of the lake for its fishing and clean water , to which the health of seagrass meadows are undeniably linked ,” says Associate Professor Adriana Verges from the School of Biological , Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales .
According to Verges , who is overseeing the project , sea meadows ( posidonia ) are critical as they are blue carbon habitats ; a place where carbon can be captured and stored for millennia in the sediment , which can make them up to 20 times more effective than terrestrial habitats at capturing carbon .
They operate as an important habitat for species including young fish , invertebrates like the blue swimmer crab and endangered marine life like the White ’ s Seahorse .
Sea meadows also stabilise the sediment , protecting shorelines from coastal erosion .
However , they have been steadily declining over the past few decades from human impact .
“ They ' ve declined so much that in six estuaries in New South Wales they ' re now in danger of extinction ,” Verges says .
“ They are disappearing , and unless we do something about it , they will eventually disappear for good .”
In other habitat restoration projects , healthy plants are often able to be transplanted to a new site . However , according to Verges , there ’ s just not enough healthy posidonia in the estuaries to make this a viable possibility .
One solution , according to the UNSW researcher , is to collect seagrass fragments dislodged by heavy storms and tides , and replanting them .
The team behind the project have identified a number of places more likely to have posidonia in the Lake Macquarie area . Collecting stations will be set up in designated areas where the community can deposit the sea grass samples they have collected . These will then be gathered by scientists and stored in tanks until there are enough to be transplanted into a new meadow .
The project is supported by Lake Macquarie City Council , Transport NSW , the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences and UNSW , and is being run in collaboration with OzFish , an NGO dedicated to restoring marine habitats and supporting recreational fishers .
They ' ve declined so much that in six estuaries in New South Wales they ' re now in danger of extinction .
“ We are really excited about partnering with them because we are hoping to engage recreational fishers with the collection of posidonia shoots , which is a new aspect of the project that we didn ’ t have in Port Stephens ,” Verges says .
“ The lake essentially acts as a big basin for the region , capturing stormwater runoff , sediment from erosion , and , in some instances , contamination ,” says Angus Fanning , OzFish coastal manager for NSW .
“ By working on restoring these endangered seagrass meadows , we are essentially enhancing a vegetation community that buffers these impacts and in doing so , creating a more resilient and healthier ecosystem for everyone .”
Verges believes the project , which launched in June , is a great opportunity to be involved in marine habitat protection .
“ We find that by involving the community , it ' s not just the collection of shoots ,” she says .
“ That is a good outcome , but people really enjoy learning about their marine backyards . The feedback we have received from Port Stephens is that people enjoy learning about the project , the species , and feeling like they can do something to help .” ■
22