Seagrass meadows are among the most productive ecosystems on earth, serving as biologically rich habitats supporting a wealth of marine life. They play a key role in nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration, storing up to 18% of the world’s oceanic carbon.

Despite their importance, seagrass meadows have experienced a concerning global decline at a rate of 7% per year since 1990, rivalling loss rates reported for coral reefs and tropical rainforests, placing seagrass meadows among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet.

In the Cocos Keeling Marine Park 1200ha of tropical seagrass has been lost – an 80% decline of known tropical seagrass extent. Grazing pressure from resident green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) has exacerbated the loss of seagrass, as the globally-threatened turtles feed on a largely reduced area of seagrass.

Nationally and internationally seagrass restoration is a relatively novel habitat recovery action. The proposed activity is part of a project which leverages off a recent pilot program of revegetation techniques proven effective on Cocos Keeling Islands at a smaller scale. The proposed activity will utilise the trialled revegetation technique and significantly expand the scale of seagrass refuge areas from 4m² to 400m² each.

The refuge areas will be constructed using innovative flexible shark barrier netting, designed to minimise impacts on other species and exclude Green Sea Turtles for the project period. Additionally, the project will trial the propagation of seagrass propagules, contributing to habitat recovery efforts.