Seagrass is an important part of Butchulla Country, with seagrass meadows throughout the Great Sandy Strait supporting significant shorebird, fisheries, turtle (milbi) and dugong (yuwang’kan) populations.
In March, fourteen Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) and Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC) Rangers participated in level 1 Seagrass Watch training with Dr Len McKenzie from Seagrass-Watch HQ.
The 3-day training program was delivered through the BAC’s Butchulla Water Stories project and funded by a Great Barrier Reef Foundation Healthy Waters grant.
Butchulla Rangers in the classroom – learning how to identify seagrass (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
It’s the little differences that matter with seagrass (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Testing knowledge in the field at Burrum Heads (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Dr Len McKenzie from Seagrass Watch HQ provides a final briefing (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Laying out the transect and quadrats (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Finding the seagrass (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
What’s in what’s out? (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Making sure you spot everything (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Seagrass spotted (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Seagrass provides food and a nursery for many species in the Great Sandy Strait (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
BAC and BNTAC Rangers start recording (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
Recording Seagrass Watch data for Butchulla Water Stories (Photo: Everick Foundation) 
BAC and BNTAC Rangers out on Butchulla Country (Photo: Everick Foundation)
Rangers undertook the following training modules:
- Seagrass biology and taxonomy
- Seagrass Identification
- Seagrass ecology
- Seagrass importance
- Seagrass threats
- Seagrass monitoring
- Seagrass-Watch – how to sample
- Risk assessment
- Data quality assurance and quality control (QAQC)
Rangers also participated in a field assessment at Burrum Heads.
Eleven participants were successful in demonstrating their knowledge, skills and abilities in the classroom and field components, and were awarded with certificates of participation. A further three participants who were successful in the classroom, but were unable to attend the field event, will be given a further opportunity to undertake their field assessments at the end of May, when Seagrass Watch is next back in Hervey Bay.
The next phase of training is to ensure that participants have the experience and competency to conduct Seagrass Watch monitoring on their own. Over the next 12 months, participants will undertake at least three monitoring events on their own to reinforce what they have learned, along with the adoption of Seagrass Watch monitoring sites.
Article contributed by Chantel Van Wamelen, Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation
FINIA 