Cockburn seagrasses fruit as Seeds for Snapper seagrass weekend looms

More than 200 community volunteers have already registered to take part in the third annual Seeds for Snapper seagrass restoration program this weekend with involvement still growing.

The seagrass is now fruiting and recreational fishers and community members can participate in a whole range of activities to help in vital seagrass restoration.

OzFish is leading the way in seagrass restoration around Australian with Cockburn Sound the most advanced national community-driven program.

OzFish WA Program Manager and Program Coordinator Andrew Matthews knows that there is a lot of complexities to getting it right.

“We have all hands on deck to deliver our ambitious target of collecting and dispersing one million seeds,” Mr Matthews said.

“The way the community have already mobilised to take part in this important fish habitat restoration project has been great to see. We’ve had volunteers making seed collection nets, people down at the boat ramp talking to boaters about how to collect seeds, people cooking BBQs, assessing waterways – it really is a community effort.”

OzFish Perth Chapter volunteers have also been hard at work setting up seed collection tanks at the Cockburn Power Boat Association where the seeds will be processed in preparation for their dispersal.

“There is multiple moving parts to this project but we are very encouraged by the community support, if all goes well we’ll get to reach that million seeds target, replenishing one hectare of seagrass meadows,” Mr Matthews said.

Cockburn Sound has lost approximately 85 percent of its seagrass meadows over the past century.

The meadows are important nursery grounds for many marine species including the iconic pink snapper.

OzFish has been leading the way in seagrass restoration in Australia having been working since 2018 restoring this key ecosystem and the community momentum and involvement is growing rapidly.

The SEEDS FOR SNAPPER Seagrass Weekend activities:

Seed Collection Dive | Woodmans Point Dog Beach I 8am – 11am

Family Seeding Day |  Cockburn Power Boat Club I 10am – 4pm

Seagrass Garden Party | Omeo Wreck Dive Trail I 9:30am – 11am

This project is made possible by the WA Government’s Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund and is supported by Recfishwest, the University of WA and Cockburn Power Boat Club.

To learn more about the Seeds for Snapper project and how you can become involved, click through below to read more or call 1800 431 308.

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