Monitoring seagrass health in Wuthathi Karakara
Aims and overview
This project aimed to build capacity among Wuthathi Land and Sea Custodians to assess seagrass habitats and determine seagrass extent and condition in Wuthathi Karakara (sea country). The information is informing future monitoring of seagrass meadows to provide an understanding of changes in seagrass condition over time.
Seagrasses have been identified by Wuthathi people as a culturally and environmentally significant value of Wuthathi Karakara (sea country) to be managed and protected. Seagrass meadows play a vital role in supporting coastal marine communities and resources important to Wuthathi. They also provide habitat for endangered species such as dugong and green sea turtles. Of the 15 species of seagrass found in Queensland, an incredible nine occur in Wuthathi Karakara.
Activities and outcomes
Wuthathi Custodians completed Seagrass Level 1 Training, a combination of in-house classroom and laboratory sessions at James Cook University (JCU), as well as field work, survey training and drone mapping at Yule Point. The training equipped them with skills to monitor the health and abundance of seagrass meadows on Country.
The JCU research team provided feedback to Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation (WAC) on the previous year’s surveys and plans for the subtidal and intertidal surveys in the northern section of Wuthathi Karakara.
These surveys aimed to map the full extent of the seagrass meadows in Wuthathi Karakara to provide baseline data to detect changes; and allow Wuthathi Custodians to make more informed decisions about the management of their catchment and inshore waters.
Wuthathi developed partnerships with JCU Seagrass Watch and QPWS to complete the mapping and baseline monitoring. Wuthathi Custodians gained greater insight into the science, planning and logistics of seagrass monitoring and the importance of understanding the condition and trend of seagrass meadows. They also improved their monitoring and data recording skills, particularly using a quadrat and drop camera to visually assess the seabed and capture footage for post-field analysis of the seagrass assemblage.
Working with QPWS, Wuthathi Custodians gained insight to commercial vessel operations to support caring for country activities. Having an Elder join the survey trip on the QPWS vessel meant that Custodians could get information about their sea country directly from their Elder.
During the survey trip, mapping of almost the full extent of Wuthathi seagrass meadows was achieved.
Learning and next steps
Lessons learned from this project will allow Wuthathi Custodians to work more autonomously in the future to survey their seagrass meadows. With repetition of this work, trend information will provide Wuthathi and co-management partners with useful data on which to base management decisions.
Wuthathi is in the process of developing a further, more holistic seagrass and dugong monitoring project across different disciplines within JCU to get a better understanding of their traditional marine resources.