The new toolkit provides step-by-step videos and manuals for Rangers monitoring seagrass, building on long-standing partnerships that are supporting Rangers from WA to QLD, including the Torres Strait, to care for Sea Country.
Seagrass meadows are vital habitats for culturally and ecologically important species including dugongs, turtles, fish, and invertebrates – but climate change impacts, extreme weather events, and coastal development are putting seagrasses under increasing pressure.
“If we didn’t have any seagrass there would be no turtle or dugong,” says Karajarri Elder Faye Dean. “I don’t think people realise how important seagrass is.”
Rangers from Karajarri Traditional Lands Association in WA, Namultja Aboriginal Corporation in the NT, the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA), and Girringun Aboriginal Corporation in QLD partnered with researchers from James Cook University (JCU) TropWATER, Charles Darwin University’s Northern Institute, and Edith Cowan University to create the new monitoring resources.
The toolkit empowers Ranger groups to lead monitoring using a set of consistent, tried-and-true methods – opening up opportunities for sharing knowledge and tracking changes in seagrass health across northern Australia.
“The methodology, the way we do the research, is the same as all the other groups right around,” says Marranbala Ranger David Barrett. “What we do on Marra Country can be compared to other places.”
“It all works together to tell a story and help us to protect our sea and seagrass.”
JCU TropWATER’s Dr Catherine Collier says the toolkit provides the Western scientific skills needed for Rangers to take the lead in marine monitoring, filling critical gaps in environmental data.
“Northern Australia’s coastal waters are home to rich biodiversity, but in a lot of places the records are patchy or out of date,” says Dr Collier. “Rangers are doing really important work weaving together Indigenous Knowledge and Western science to fill these data gaps, seeing what habitats are there and how they might be changing, and then we can see how this fits into the bigger picture of seagrass across the region.”
“Every place has a different story.”
Each video in the toolkit blends training with local connection, featuring Rangers and Traditional Owners reflecting on how they are working to protect their Sea Country and why seagrass monitoring matters to them.
“It’s important for everyone to understand the health of Sea Country,” says Bandjin Traditional Owner Jade Pryor. “Everyone plays a pivotal role in caring for Country and doing their part to heal Country as well.”
“Seagrass is important, and community needs to know why it’s important,” says TSRA Mabuyag Ranger Terrence Whap. “If you take away seagrass, you take away our culture.”
The project was supported with funding from the Australian Government under the National Environmental Science Program, with additional support from the Torres Strait Regional Authority, Namultja Aboriginal Corporation, Karajarri Traditional Lands Association, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Northern Territory Government and Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The monitoring toolkit materials are available here.
