4,669 research outputs found
Torres Strait Seagrass 2018 Report Card
No full textSeagrass meadows show measurable responses to changes in environmental condition, so are ideal sensitive receptors for monitoring marine environmental health.
Torres Strait contains some of the most extensive seagrass meadows of northern Australia. Torres Strait Island communities rely on coastal marine habitats for subsistence, and have strong cultural and spiritual links to these environments.
This report provides the first integrated condition assessment of Torres Strait seagrass using a report card approach. Seagrass was graded from A (very good) to E (very poor) relative to baseline conditions, and scored on a 0–1 scale.
Data used in this report card comes from the Torres Strait Seagrass Monitoring Program (TSSMP), which incorporates the Torres Strait Seagrass Observers Program, Ranger Subtidal Monitoring Program, Queensland Ports Seagrass Monitoring Program, and Reef-top Monitoring Program.
Thirty-one sites/meadows were classified for this report card across four Torres Strait Island Clusters. Seagrass condition in all clusters was good.
The majority of individual sites/meadows were in good condition. Only one monitoring site in the entire Torres Strait monitoring network received a poor score in 2018, site MR2 (Lei) at Mer Island, which was likely a reflection of a localised change in condition at that particular site. No condition indicators or overall grades were very poor in 2018.
The program will be substantially improved as it matures and more sites/meadows build 10 years of baseline information.
We recommend: (1) establishing monitoring in the Top-Western Cluster where no monitoring currently occurs, (2) expanding meadow-scale monitoring and subtidal block monitoring to include examples in all island clusters, (3) establishing additional intertidal transect monitoring in the central island cluster, and (4) establishing monitoring meadows in the inner cluster away from anthropogenic impacts at Thursday Island. These additions would vastly improve the mix of information and provide a more reliable assessment of seagrass condition and change in the region
Torres Strait Seagrass Long-term Monitoring: dugong sanctuary, Dungeness Reef and Orman Reefs
No full textTorres Strait contains extensive seagrass habitat, the largest dugong population in the world, and globally significant populations of green turtles. Dugong feed exclusively on seagrass while green turtles consume seagrass and macroalgae. Seagrass diebacks have been documented twice in central Torres Strait and linked to local dugong mortality.
Community-based Dugong and Turtle Management Plans are in operation in Torres Strait. These include seasonal closures, gear restrictions, effort reduction, limits on take, compulsory sharing, and closed areas. The largest closed area is the Dugong Sanctuary, which incorporates the largest single continuous seagrass meadow mapped in Australia.
Assessing and managing the health of Torres Strait seagrass requires collection of baseline information plus ongoing monitoring to understand seasonal variation and detect seagrass decline.
This report describes (1) a baseline survey of intertidal Orman Reef (2017) including seagrass and other benthic characteristics; and (2) long-term monitoring of seagrass in the Dugong Sanctuary (2011-2018), Dungeness Reef (2016-2018) and Orman Reefs (2017-2018).
Ranger participation is essential to the success of seagrass research in Torres Strait. Surveys involved collaboration between Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) Land and Sea Management Unit (LSMU) Rangers and the Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER). Rangers from Poruma, Iama and Warraber Islands (Dungeness Reef), and Badu and Mabuiag Islands (Dugong Sanctuary and Orman Reefs), were key staff in data collection.
8823 + 570 hectares of intertidal seagrass was mapped across six intertidal meadows at Orman Reefs. The reef also contained extensive algae habitat and hard coral communities.
Subtidal seagrass meadows monitored at the Dugong Sanctuary, Dungeness Reef, and Orman Reefs remain in good condition, but with distinct seasonal fluctuations in biomass.
We recommend future research and monitoring based on continued collaboration with TSRA LSMU Rangers, maintenance of existing long-term monitoring programs, expansion of baseline seagrass knowledge to areas currently lacking data, and establishment of additional long-term seagrass monitoring in a range of seagrass habitats, with a particular focus on subtidal and remote intertidal meadows
Eastern Torres Strait intertidal benthic survey: Ugar, Campbell and Nepean Islands
No full textTorres Strait’s Eastern Cluster is an ecologically important region in the traditional land and sea country of the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation. The area contains important seagrass foraging grounds for green turtles, and the most important green turtle rookeries in Torres Strait for the northern Great Barrier Reef population. Seagrass meadows also provide food for dugong, and habitat for sea cucumbers that are an important fisheries resource in the region.
- This report describes a large‐scale survey in March 2022 of reef‐top and island intertidal benthic habitats, including seagrass, algae and coral at Ugar, Nepean and Campbell Islands and surrounding reefs.
- 1604 + 260 hectares of intertidal seagrass was mapped across seven intertidal meadows. Ugar Island (Stephens) had the largest meadow (1397 + 222 hectares) with the highest biomass and species diversity. The six smaller, low biomass meadows occurred on reef‐tops close to Ugar, and at Nepean and Campbell Islands.
- Seven seagrass species were recorded during the survey, but most meadows were dominated by two common reef‐associated species Thalassia hemprichii and Cymodocea rotundata.
- The meadows are similar in area and species composition to surveys conducted 13 years prior, which indicates the region’s intertidal meadows provide a relatively stable habitat and foraging ground for marine herbivores.
Extensive algae habitat and coral communities were also mapped. Erect macrophyte algae was the dominant algae community. Hard coral cover was as high as 90% at some survey sites.
- Seagrass information presented in this report is available on eAtlas (eatlas.org.au) and can be used to inform the Ugaram Dugong and Turtle Management Plans.
We recommend the establishment of long‐term, meadow‐scale monitoring at Ugar Island to improve condition assessments and management of seagrass and other benthic habitats in the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation
Eastern Torres Strait intertidal benthic survey: Ugar, Campbell and Nepean Islands
No full textTorres Strait’s Eastern Cluster is an ecologically important region in the traditional land and sea country of the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation. The area contains important seagrass foraging grounds for green turtles, and the most important green turtle rookeries in Torres Strait for the northern Great Barrier Reef population. Seagrass meadows also provide food for dugong, and habitat for sea cucumbers that are an important fisheries resource in the region.
- This report describes a large‐scale survey in March 2022 of reef‐top and island intertidal benthic habitats, including seagrass, algae and coral at Ugar, Nepean and Campbell Islands and surrounding reefs.
- 1604 + 260 hectares of intertidal seagrass was mapped across seven intertidal meadows. Ugar Island (Stephens) had the largest meadow (1397 + 222 hectares) with the highest biomass and species diversity. The six smaller, low biomass meadows occurred on reef‐tops close to Ugar, and at Nepean and Campbell Islands.
- Seven seagrass species were recorded during the survey, but most meadows were dominated by two common reef‐associated species Thalassia hemprichii and Cymodocea rotundata.
- The meadows are similar in area and species composition to surveys conducted 13 years prior, which indicates the region’s intertidal meadows provide a relatively stable habitat and foraging ground for marine herbivores.
Extensive algae habitat and coral communities were also mapped. Erect macrophyte algae was the dominant algae community. Hard coral cover was as high as 90% at some survey sites.
- Seagrass information presented in this report is available on eAtlas (eatlas.org.au) and can be used to inform the Ugaram Dugong and Turtle Management Plans.
We recommend the establishment of long‐term, meadow‐scale monitoring at Ugar Island to improve condition assessments and management of seagrass and other benthic habitats in the Kemer Kemer Meriam Nation
Torres Strait Seagrass 2019 Report Card
No full textTorres Strait contains some of the most extensive seagrass meadows of northern Australia.
Seagrass is a critical habitat in Torres Strait, supporting populations of dugong, green turtle, and important fishery species. Torres Strait Island communities have strong cultural and spiritual links to these species and environments.
This report provides the second integrated condition assessment of Torres Strait seagrass using a report card approach. Seagrass was graded from A (very good) to E (very poor) relative to baseline conditions, and scored on a 0–1 scale.
Data used in this report card was collected from mid-2018 to mid-2019 for the Torres Strait Seagrass Monitoring Program (TSSMP). The TSSMP incorporates the Torres Strait Seagrass Observers Program, Ranger Subtidal Monitoring Program, Queensland Ports Seagrass Monitoring Program, and Reef-top Monitoring Program.
Twenty-seven sites/meadows were classified for the 2019 report card across four Torres Strait Island Clusters.
Seagrass condition was good in the Western, Central and Eastern Clusters, and satisfactory in the Inner Cluster.
The majority of individual sites/meadows were in good condition. Only two monitoring meadows in the entire Torres Strait monitoring network received a poor score; these were the deeper meadows along the southern side of Thursday Island and suggests a localised reduction in light there. No condition indicators or overall grades were very poor in 2019.
The program will be substantially improved as it matures and more sites/meadows build 10 years of baseline information.
This report highlights areas where information is lacking and suggests a pathway for improving representativeness and reliability of condition scores for seagrass in Torres Strait Island Clusters. We recommend: (1) establishing monitoring in the Top-Western Cluster where no monitoring currently occurs, (2) expanding meadow-scale and subtidal block monitoring to include examples in all island clusters, (3) establishing additional intertidal transect monitoring in the Central Cluster, and (4) establishing monitoring meadows in the Inner Cluster away from anthropogenic impacts at Thursday Island. These additions would vastly improve our assessment of seagrass condition and change in the region
A review of programs that targeted environmental determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
No full textThis review finds that there are relatively few papers describing interventions that target environmental determinants of Indigenous health.Abstract: Objective: Effective interventions to improve population and individual health require environmental change as well as strategies that target individual behaviours and clinical factors. This is the basis of implementing an ecological approach to health programs and health promotion. For Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders, colonisation has made the physical and social environment particularly detrimental for health.Methods and results: We conducted a literature review to identify Aboriginal health interventions that targeted environmental determinants of health, identifying 21 different health programs. Program activities that targeted environmental determinants of health included: Caring for Country; changes to food supply and/or policy; infrastructure for physical activity; housing construction and maintenance; anti-smoking policies; increased workforce capacity; continuous quality improvement of clinical systems; petrol substitution; and income management. Targets were categorised according to Miller’s Living Systems Theory. Researchers using an Indigenous community based perspective more often identified interpersonal and community-level targets than were identified using a Western academic perspective.Conclusions: Although there are relatively few papers describing interventions that target environmental determinants of health, many of these addressed such determinants at multiple levels, consistent to some degree with an ecological approach. Interpretation of program targets sometimes differed between academic and community-based perspectives, and was limited by the type of data reported in the journal articles, highlighting the need for local Indigenous knowledge for accurate program evaluation.Implications: While an ecological approach to Indigenous health is increasingly evident in the health research literature, the design and evaluation of such programs requires a wide breadth of expertise, including local Indigenous knowledge.Authored by Leah Johnston, Joyce Doyle, Bec Morgan, Sharon Atkinson-Briggs, Bradley Firebrace, Mayatili Marika, Rachel Reilly, Margaret Cargo, Therese Riley and Kevin Rowley
Good Words (Magazine) for 1868
No full textAs Abbey writes, the fable articles here precede and are different from their first appearance in book form a year later. For it was then that Ralston published the first edition of Krilof and His Fables. See my comments on the third (1871) and fourth (1883) editions. The book smells of its many years! The three fable articles are on 39-46, including six illustrations on 40-41; 215-221, including six illustrations on 216-17; and 413-20, including six illustrations on 416-17. These are magazine articles. They comment on Krilof's views and particularly on Russian foibles. Thus one prose text after another is integrated into the article. In the book, there will be, after a preface and a memoir, a simple collection of texts. In fact, the selection of Krilof fables within the article here is excellent, and the author puts them into a good cultural and political context. At least some of the illustrations are the same as those in the third edition.. The texts are close to those found in the published books. It makes sense to see the texts in the magazine here as forerunners of those fable texts there. I presume that Ralston had opportunity to edit and amend between his magazine articles and his book's first edition. The publisher of the magazine is of course the publisher of the third edition that I have. The print is minuscule! I needed a magnifying glass for normal reading. The index just after 774 assigns J.B. Zwecker and A.B. Houghton as illustrators for the eighteen illustrations in the three fable articles. Dalziel, Houghton, and Zwecker are the names I can make out on the illustrations. Dalziel is not mentioned on the title page, but there is reference to others.This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Norman MacLeod; W.R.S. Ralston for fable
Assessment of Key Dugong and Turtle Seagrass Resources in North-west Torres Strait
No full textSeagrasses are one of the most productive marine habitats on earth that provide food for herbivores like dugongs (Dugong dugon) and green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). Torres Strait contains extensive seagrass meadows, the largest dugong population in the world, and a globally significant population of green turtles. Assessing and managing seagrass resources in Torres Strait requires adequate baseline information. North-west Torres Strait was identified in a 2014 review as an important hunting and fishing ground for Torres Strait Islanders with large dugong and turtle populations, but where seagrass data was lacking.
The project aim was to provide information on intertidal and subtidal seagrass in north-west Torres Strait detailing seagrass distribution, biomass, species composition, and other benthic characteristics (algae, macro-invertebrates).
Boat and helicopter surveys were conducted November 2015 to January 2016. Seagrass information recorded included presence/absence, percent cover, above ground biomass, species composition and diversity. Other benthic information included percent cover of algae (by functional group) and macro-invertebrates. Boat-based surveys were conducted in collaboration with TSRA LSMU Rangers from Boigu Island and Saibai Island.
North-west Torres Strait contains extensive seagrass habitat. Seagrass was present at 43% of the 853 sites surveyed. Seagrass area mapped was 60 263 ha across 34 meadows. Ten seagrass species from three families were identified. The most dominant species in terms of contribution to mean biomass was T. hemprichii (35%); H. uninervis was the most commonly occurring species. Extensive dugong feeding trails (DFTs) were present in intertidal meadows along the Papua New Guinea shoreline and around Boigu Island. Coral communities were the dominant form of benthic macro-invertebrates. Extensive algae habitat was throughout the region.
Subtidal seagrass meadows were extensive in the area bounded by Deliverance, Turnagain and Boigu Islands, but sparse elsewhere, likely due to strong currents south of Deliverance Island and poor underwater visibility from suspended sediments close to Papua New Guinea. The presence of dugong feeding trails in intertidal meadows and frequent turtle and dugong sightings during the surveys identifies the region as ideal foraging habitat. Subtidal meadow distribution mapped in this study overlaps spatially with very high dugong and turtle density distributions recorded during aerial surveys.
Effective management and planning requires current, spatially relevant seagrass information at the scale of individual communities’ sea country to inform community-based Turtle and Dugong Management Plans and will require cooperation with adjacent Papua New Guinea coastal communities. Recommendations include: (1) Establish baseline seagrass information in high-very high dugong density areas between Turnagain and Gabba Islands, Orman Reefs and the eastern boundary of the Dugong Sanctuary; (2) Establish a seagrass long-term monitoring program in regions of high-very high dugong density; (3) Continue collaboration with TSRA LSMU Rangers for seagrass surveys and monitoring
Simple drag prediction strategies for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle’s hull shape
No full textThe range of an AUV is dictated by its finite energy source and minimising the energy consumption is required to maximise its endurance. One option to extend the endurance is by obtaining the optimum hydrodynamic hull shape with balancing the trade-off between computational cost and fluid dynamic fidelity. An AUV hull form has been optimised to obtain low resistance hull. Hydrodynamic optimisation of hull form has been carried out by employing five parametric geometry models with a streamlined constraint. Three Genetic Algorithm optimisation procedures are applied by three simple drag predictions which are based on the potential flow method. The results highlight the effectiveness of considering the proposed hull shape optimisation procedure for the early stage of AUV hull desig
Subtidal seagrass of western Torres Strait
No full textThis report describes a baseline survey of subtidal seagrass in the Western Cluster of Torres Strait that occurred in December 2020, as a collaboration between the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) Land and Sea Management Unit (LSMU), Rangers and Traditional Owners from Badu, Mabuyag and Moa Islands, and James Cook University’s Centre for Tropical Water & Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER).
Western Torres Strait has long been identified as an ecologically important region, with extensive seagrass habitat and high densities of dugong and green turtles. Despite this, large areas of the region had not been surveyed previously, and in other areas spatial data was more than a decade old.
The survey was also a response to significant declines in seagrass condition in the Mabuyag-Orman Reefs area, particularly for subtidal seagrass, detected by long-term monitoring programs.
Over 300,000 ha of subtidal seagrass was mapped across 27 meadows. This included large, continuous meadows north of Mabuyag Island to Buru Island, and east of the Orman Reefs to Gebar Island, and a large but patchy meadow in the north-east section of the Dugong Sanctuary. Nine seagrass species were recorded.
Seagrass meadows in 2020 were generally patchier, smaller, and the previously dominant subtidal species H. spinulosa was gone from most sites in regions where previous survey data was available for comparison.
This assessment of Western Cluster subtidal seagrass provides essential habitat information to the TSRA, Traditional Owners, and the Australian and Queensland governments. This information can be used for community-based Dugong and Turtle Management Plans
Spatial data produced for this report is available on eAtlas (www.eatlas.org.au).
We recommend: (1) ongoing Ranger-led subtidal seagrass monitoring on the western side of Orman Reefs and the north-eastern part of the Dugong Sanctuary, (2) expansion of subtidal monitoring to include meadows east of the Orman Reefs and/or close to Badu Island, and (3) undertake baseline subtidal surveys in areas adjacent to the December 2020 survey, particularly in the southern Dugong Sanctuary
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