OzFish to kick-off second year of seagrass restoration program in Adelaide
Seagrass meadows along South Australia’s coastline will again be the focus of community-driven restoration as fishing conservation charity OzFish gears up for its second year of Seeds For Snapper.
The project will see locals collect, process, and disperse thousands of seagrass fruits in a bid to restore seagrass meadows that have been lost due to human intervention.
OzFish is calling on recreational fishers, boat owners and the wider community to register now as volunteers and be part of history-making seagrass restoration for Adelaide’s coastlines.
Seagrasses are vital marine plants and important habitats for countless marine organisms, including popular fishing catches such as snapper, King George whiting, blue swimmer crabs, king prawns and calamari.
As the water heats up throughout December, Posidonia seagrass produces fruit, when ripened it floats to the sea surface and gets scattered by the ocean currents.
The fruit often gets lost out to sea or can perish on the beach, but volunteers can now collect the fruit, help extract the seed, and then place it back in a dedicated location that is prime to support new growth.
OzFish Senior Program Manager for South Australia, Dr Michael Sierp says that this year’s project will not only rejuvenate the Posidonia variety but will also assist Amphibolis species through dropping sandbags that provide an anchorage point as the seedlings are swept across the seafloor.
“There are a lot of logistics involved but we’ve seen the sandbags from last year and they are re-establishing beautifully and already have sea life using them,” said Dr Sierp
“Seagrass meadows create a mecca of underwater biodiversity. Not only are they a nursery ground for juvenile fish, but they also cycle nutrients, stabilise our coastlines and prevent erosion.
Seagrass is also proving to be an important strategy to mitigate climate change, and they have been shown to capture and store carbon 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
“This year we are increasing our output of bags and hopefully seedlings too. We are aiming to collect enough fruits and seeds to restore around 1 HA of seagrass meadows.
“To do this we need as many people as possible to help by beachcombing or collecting floating seagrass fruit from their boats. Anyone can register to be a volunteer – the sky really is the limit on what we can do as a community,” stated Dr Sierp.
Volunteers can drop their collected seagrass fruits off at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia (CYCSA) on designated days, where they will be processed by OzFish in a pop-up seawater facility over December and January where the seed will be separated.
OzFish is holding an open day on Saturday 4 December at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia between 1 pm and 3 pm, and are encouraging those who want to get involved in the project to head on down.
The Seeds for Snapper project is funded by Green Adelaide and BCF – Boating, Camping & Fishing and is supported by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia, Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA), Estuary Care Foundation (ECF), RecFishSA, Aquatic Biosecurity Pty Ltd and the Environmental Protection Authority-SA.
Find Out More About The Project
Volunteers are needed now. You can register to be a volunteer in the Seeds for Snapper project via the link below or call 1800 431 308.
