CQUniversity Unveils World’s Largest Purpose-built Seagrass Restoration Nursery
Description
The world's largest purpose-built seagrass restoration nursery has opened in Gladstone, significantly boosting efforts to repair and build the resilience of this critical ecosystem and helping unlock the Great Barrier Reef's potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The new expanded seagrass nursery will see restoration scaled up significantly using an innovative seed-based method pioneered at the facility, to help repair critical ecosystem.
Partners
Coles Group
Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Reef Coastal Restoration Program
Australian Government Reef Trust
Impact
The role of seagrass in sustaining the Great Barrier Reef and supporting the health of coastal habitats is critical and provides nurseries and food sources for endangered species like turtles and dugongs whilst acting as natural filters by removing pollutants such as fine sediment and excess nutrients from waters.
The world’s largest purpose-built seagrass restoration nursery has opened in Gladstone, significantly boosting efforts to repair and build the resilience of this critical ecosystem and helping unlock the Great Barrier Reef’s potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Located at CQUniversity’s Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre (CMERC), the nursery unveiling is the first stage of the $15 million CMERC redevelopment, funded by Coles Group and the Federal Government to develop evidence-based, innovative research solutions to shape sustainable coastal futures.
The nursery will be transformative in enhancing degraded seagrass meadows and helping to build their resilience against the increasing impacts of climate change. Seeds collected from nurseries are used to re-seed damaged or fragmented meadows, helping to improve their overall condition and resilience.
The nursery will enhance capacity for seagrass restoration while also providing more accessibility for local community and schools to visit and learn about this important habitat.
The Great Barrier Reef’s meadows provide nurseries and food sources for endangered species like turtles and dugongs whilst acting as natural filters by removing pollutants such as fine sediment and excess nutrients from the water. They also mitigate climate change by storing 400 million tonnes of carbon.
The nursery will see restoration scaled up significantly using an innovative seed-based method pioneered at the facility, to help repair critical ecosystems whilst unlocking the Great Barrier Reef’s potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
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