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Seeds for Snapper

Seagrass Restoration 2021
Cockburn Sound WA

In its fourth year, the 2021 marine restoration program saw volunteers work tirelessly to collect and distribute a staggering number of seeds to help restore the lost seagrass meadows of Cockburn Sound.

KIC grant

This year a community nominated grant from the Kwinana Industries Council (KIC) helped OzFish hit the magic million for the number of seeds collected. The grant from KIC provided support and safety for the divers as restoration efforts were expanded. Projects like Seeds for Snapper do not happen without the support of organisations and groups such as the KIC.

The two-month-long restoration program saw over 300 volunteers participate in 42 individual dive events at Woodman Point beach just south of the port city of Fremantle. Volunteers have generously given well over a thousand hours of their time to achieve the largest seagrass fruit collection ever undertaken in Australia.

Volunteer divers collected a record of 1,184,324 fruit, with an approximate weight of 1.84 tonnes. A total of 375,000 seeds were then returned to the ocean where they are expected to grow and eventually establish into new seagrass meadows.

Divers and their support team helped collect the fruit by hand and brought them to shore where they were placed in agitated saltwater tanks until the fruit was ready to drop their seed. The seeds were then carefully sorted, cleaned and dispersed in areas experiencing habitat loss.

Projects like this show what can be achieved when people get together with a common goal of restoring marine habitats.

Community involvement

Seeds for Snapper helps foster community participation and stewardship through encouraging volunteers and community members to give back to their local waterway.

Volunteers are the driving force of this project. Attendees learnt how they can come on board with OzFish and the University of Western Australia presented on the learnings from previous years to improve seagrass collection efficiencies to hit the magic million seeds.

LATEST NEWS

OCTOBER 20 2021 | OzFish to replant 1 million seagrass seeds in West Australia

Seagrass meadows within Western Australia’s Cockburn Sound will again be the focus of community-driven restoration as fishing conservation charity OzFish Unlimited launches Seeds for Snapper 2021 this November. Now in its fourth year, the annual marine restoration program, is calling on the community for help in achieving this year’s goals.The project will see the local fishers and divers endeavour to collect, process, and disperse 1 million seagrass seeds to help restore and regenerate seagrass meadows. Cockburn Sound is a major nursery and foraging grounds for many recreational fishing favourites, such as baby pink snapper, calamari, whiting and blue swimmer crabs.

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NOVEMBER 17 2021 | Volunteers collect a record one million seagrass fruits

Volunteer recreational fishers and divers have worked tirelessly for another year to restore the lost seagrass meadows of Cockburn Sound, as their Seeds for Snapper project ends with a record haul. This year, volunteers collected well over 1 million seagrass fruits which are set to be dispersed back into the local snapper spawning ground to restore vital fishery habitat.Senior Program Manager at OzFish Unlimited, Andrew Mathews, says the work that was achieved this year will go a long way to re-establish the seagrass meadows that have been lost in this area. “Volunteer divers collected a total of 1,184,324 fruit that have an approximate weight of 1.84 tonnes. After four years of restoration, it is a record,” said Andrew.