Volunteers needed to join seagrass restoration army for Seeds For Snapper South Australia
OzFish Unlimited is putting the call-out for volunteers in and around Adelaide to support seagrass restoration.
OzFish is working with Green Adelaide to get volunteers ready for the annual Seeds for Snapper event in December.
Volunteers are needed to help collect seagrass fruits that resemble small green bananas and generally float on the surface or get washed ashore along Adelaide’s coastlines in mid to late December.
Community members can also get involved in the project by helping to sew seagrass seeds into sandbags or deploying sandbags in the ocean by boat.
Over 6000 hectares of seagrass meadows have been lost off the Adelaide coast and are vital breeding grounds for a variety of fish and marine life.They support biodiversity, controls erosion, improve water quality, sustain fisheries, and offer economic and cultural value, all while enhancing the resilience of marine ecosystems and mitigating climate change.
“We’ve recorded over 6000 volunteer hours over the past three years and considering the project only goes for four weeks a year, that’s quite a bit,” Rachel Williams, OzFish’s South Australia Project Manager, said.
“We get people from all walks of life, from retirees to families with young kids on school holidays.”
Volunteer registrations are now open via the OzFish website for anyone interested in devoting time to this vitally important cause.
The annual Adelaide Seeds for Snapper project will take place along the metropolitan coastline to help restore this lost habitat and create better conditions for recreational fishers.
Alerts are posted on the Seeds for Snapper SA Volunteers Facebook page by fishers and beachcombers to let their fellow volunteers know that fruit has been sighted at certain locations.
Dedicated volunteer beachcombers and boaters collect the fruit they find – either with a bucket of water if it’s washed ashore or a net if it’s floating on the ocean’s surface
The volunteers then take the fruits to the specially designed tank facility located at the Cruising Yacht Club of SA, for processing. Again, with the help of volunteers, the resulting seeds are sewn into environmentally friendly biodegradable sandbags which are redeployed in the ocean, at locations identified by scientists.
Restoring seagrass is essential to maintaining a healthy environment for the fish that recreational fishers love to catch in the region.
It’s an extremely important habitat for a lot of iconic species like King George whiting and garfish, who rely almost entirely on seagrass habitats.
A century ago, seagrass meadows hugged the coastline right up near to the shore but nowadays they have been eradicated to an extent where they do not appear for as much as a kilometre out to sea.
Community members wishing to find out more about how they can get involved in this year’s project, are invited to attend the Seeds for Snapper Open Day on December 3 at the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia.
OzFish is calling on recreational anglers, boaters, beachcombers, community organizations, and businesses to get involved. Register your interest for the 2023 Seeds for Snapper season today.
Seeds for Snapper in Adelaide is funded by Green Adelaide and BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing. Project partners include South Australian Research and Development Institute, RecFish SA, Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia, Estuary Care Foundation and Aquatic Biosecurity.
