NESP Marine and Coastal Hub (2021). Synthesising three decades of seagrass spatial data from Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria. Project 1.13 Information sheet. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, Cairns, Queensland.
Overview
The Gulf of Carpentaria and Torres Strait have globally significant seagrass meadows that provide food for threatened dugong and turtle, and habitat for commercially important fish and prawns. Key to understanding, managing, mitigating risk, and monitoring seagrass in this remote region is reliable data on seagrass distribution and species composition and how this changes through time. Data on seagrass has been collected in these areas since the 1980s, but data location and storage from these efforts remains disparate, in many cases not publicly available, and in some cases has already been lost. Our study will compile, validate and synthesise historical seagrass spatial data to create a publicly available database accessible on eAtlas. This product will provide end-users with a valuable spatial resource to assist management and monitoring of seagrass in the region.