Rasheed, Michael, Taylor, Helen, Dew, Kara, Carter, Alex, and Sankey, Tonia (2007) Deepwater seagrass dynamics in Hay Point: measuring variability and monitoring impacts of capital dredging. Report. Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F), Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

A marine plant monitoring program has been established to examine the potential impacts of the recent capital dredging of the Port of Hay Point. This work had the potential to significantly impact on seagrass habitats known to exist in the port. However little is known about the dynamics of the type of low density deepwater seagrass habitat that typified the area. The monitoring program was designed to fill some of the gaps in knowledge on how these deepwater habitats change naturally through time, their roles in fisheries productivity and their resilience and capacity for recovery from disturbance associated with dredging.

This interim report details the results of the first half of the monitoring program. It encompasses the pre-dredge baseline and dredging phase but only one of the post dredge (recovery) sampling events. Initial results have found that the seagrass community type in the port was naturally highly variable and that seasonal recruitment into the area may have been hindered by the dredge related turbidity. There was also evidence of impacts and the beginnings of recovery to benthic macro invertebrate communities. While the capital dredging project in the Port of Hay Point appears to have had an impact on marine plant and benthic macro invertebrate communities, preliminary results indicate that these communities and habitats may already be showing signs of recovery. The continuation of the program for the 12 months post dredging will assist in determining the extent of that recovery and provide further clarification of the possible seasonal cycle of seagrass recruitment and decline in deepwater areas of the region.

Item ID:	39911
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Keywords:	recovery, resilience, management, environmental monitoring, marine monitoring, marine water quality, seagrass, reproduction, seagrass habitats, Great Barrier Reef, port development, dredging
Additional Information:	At head of title: "Interim progress report"
Funders:	Ports Corporation of Queensland (PCQ)
Projects and Grants:	DPI&F Marine Ecology Group (MEG)
Date Deposited:	25 Aug 2015 06:49
FoR Codes:	05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050206 Environmental Monitoring @ 50% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 50%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960507 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Marine Environments @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960503 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Coastal and Estuarine Environments @ 50%
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