Lake Macquarie community invited to assist with seagrass restoration

Operation Posidonia, a project led by marine ecologists from UNSW Sydney and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, aims to restore endangered Posidonia australis seagrass meadows in Lake Macquarie with the help of local citizen scientists. 

Posidonia meadows are an incredibly important habitat for a variety of fish species, capturing large amounts of carbon and protecting shorelines from erosion. They have been declining at an alarming rate in NSW’s most populated estuaries due to human pressures. One of the most significant ongoing threats to Posidonia meadows is traditional swing moorings with heavy chains that scour the seafloor.

Operation Posidonia is combining seagrass rehabilitation with environmentally friendly moorings, which don’t have a swinging chain component, while also restoring the species to old mooring ‘scars’ where the seagrass has not recovered naturally. Operation Posidonia has developed a restoration method that doesn’t require removing donor material from remaining vulnerable meadows. 

Citizen scientists known as the ‘Storm Squad’ are asked to collect naturally-detached fragments of the seagrass that wash ashore in strong winds. If fragments still have a rhizome (anchoring structure) attached, they can be replanted underwater. Operation Posidonia is focusing its efforts around Belmont and Marks Point, where most of the Lake’s Posidonia meadows are found. Replanting of seagrass collected by citizen scientists began in May near Belmont Baths.  

 

Most of Lake Macquarie’s Posidonia meadows exist on the Eastern side of the lake, between Swansea and Belmont. Small pockets exist elsewhere, such as at Coal Point. Depending on wind conditions, however, it is possible to find Posidonia fragments in almost all corn

ers of the lake. You can expect to find washed-up fragments around Coal Point and Toronto after strong southerly and easterly winds.  

 

There are moves afoot to get a collection station at the Toronto Baths, but in the meantime fragments can be deposited at Belmont Baths.

 

Find out all the information you need to join the Storm Squad at operationposidonia.com/lake-macquarie  

Clayton Mead | Research Assistant , UNSW Sydney

World Wetlands Day 2/2/19

The Earth’s climate is changing due to increased amounts of carbon dioxide, methane and

other green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere due to human activity.

The global community is acting via the Paris agreement to stabilise and reduce GHG to limit the increase in global average temperature and in turn will reduce the number of extreme weather events. We all need to play a part to fix the problem, and there are solutions.

Protecting wetlands is one of the keys to coping with climate change. We are not powerless against climate change. Wetlands help us prepare for, cope with and bounce back from the impacts of climate change. Wetlands come in a variety of forms. Locally we have been protecting and expanding the small wetland remnants at Carey Bay, a Swamp-Oak Forest. Wetlands also include mangroves and seagrasses.

The Carey Bay Wetland acts like a sponge absorbing floodwaters during storms, if you walk through it you’ll realise how wet it stays long after the rains have left. Wetlands naturally absorb and store carbon; they are the most effective carbon sinks on Earth.

We also have seagrass meadows along our foreshore acting as a buffer from extreme weather, reducing the intensity of waves and storm surges. Seagrasses also absorb carbon 35times faster than rainforests. Do you have an environmentally friendly mooring that protects our seagrass beds? Want to help the planet…one mooring at a time?

Would you like to fortify your foreshore? Casuarinas are nature’s own shock absorbers, these whispering warriors are prepared to be the front line of defence against storm surges and offer property protection. If you’re noticing your foreshore eroding the CPPA is growing some Casuarinas from locally collected seed and we can put one aside for you to help protect your water frontage.