Carter, Alex, and Rasheed, Michael (2018) Mackay-Whitsunday 2017 Baseline Seagrass Survey: Marine Inshore South Zone. Report. TropWATER, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

• The Mackay-Whitsunday region has extensive seagrass habitat that provides an important food resource for dugong and turtle and a range of other key ecosystem services.

• The Mackay-Whitsunday Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership (HR2RP) reports on the condition of the region through an annual report card. The HR2RP identified a knowledge gap for the inshore marine south zone, where lack of regular monitoring means no scores could be provided for any of the four indicators: water quality, coral, seagrass and fish.

• Historical seagrass data exists for the inshore marine south zone collected by TropWATER (James Cook University) team during surveys in 1987, 1997, 1999, and in 2003/4 with CSIRO. The 1987 and 1999 surveys revealed substantial intertidal seagrass meadows along the coast, particularly in the Clairview Dugong Protection Area (DPA).

• TropWATER were contracted to address identified knowledge gaps in environmental condition (seagrass, and water quality) for the south inshore marine zone, with a longer-term objective to provide report card scores for these indicators.

• This report presents findings from the 2017 baseline seagrass survey of the marine inshore south zone, which focused on the Clairview DPA.

• Survey methods and the seagrass metrics recorded followed established methods used throughout Queensland. Standardised methods and metrics ensure seagrass data is comparable with data already in use for seagrass report cards, including HR2RP, the Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership, the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership, and the Queensland Ports Seagrass Monitoring Program (QPSMP).

• 1600 ha of intertidal seagrass and 70 ha of subtidal seagrass was mapped across seven intertidal and two subtidal meadows. Three seagrass species were recorded: Zostera muelleri subsp. capricorni, Halodule uninervis, and Halophila ovalis.

• Evidence of dugong feeding was present in four of the seven intertidal meadows.

• Meadows suitable for annual long-term monitoring were identified between Clairview and Flock Pigeon Island. The recommended monitoring program would incorporate a large area (64%) of the total mapped coastal seagrass in the south zone into annual assessments of seagrass condition and therefore provide excellent representation of overall seagrass condition in the zone.

• Long-term monitoring of meadow area, biomass and species composition will provide the data necessary to establish baseline seagrass conditions and develop report card scores for the south zone consistent with the current methods for the HR2RP.

Item ID:	80167
Item Type:	Report (Report)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Copyright Information:	© James Cook University, 2018.
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2023 23:59
FoR Codes:	41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 100%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 100%
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