Seagrass - Office of the Environmental Monitor

Seagrass Monitoring Program



Seagrass is important for Port Phillip Bay’s ecosystem as it provides food and shelter for a wide range of marine plants and animals and is an important habitat for juvenile fish.

Seagrass is mostly found in the southern and western regions of the Bay. Changes to seagrass bed density and size can occur naturally, but can also be caused by human activities in the surrounding catchment.

The Seagrass Monitoring Program is one of nine Baywide Monitoring Programs. Its objective is to detect changes in seagrass health in the Bay outside expected variability during and after the Project.

Photo: Seagrass beds in Port Phillip Bay.

The program will examine seagrass health including its distribution and density by using aerial photography to map the broad areas of seagrass in the Bay on an annual basis. The extent of individual seagrass beds and their health including cover, height and density of seagrass shoots, will also be physically measured quarterly by SCUBA at six locations in the Bay. At the same time, environmental factors that affect seagrass, such as light, turbidity and nutrients will be measured to identify possible effects.

The program is conducted by the Department of Sustainability and Environment with data collected by the Department of Primary Industries.

For more information on the Seagrass Monitoring Program please download the fact sheet.

Results



Results from this monitoring program will be available soon.


To view information and results from other programs that monitor Bay plants and animals click on the links below.
Little Penguins Monitoring Program
Ramsar-Listed Wetlands Monitoring Program
Biodiversity in Marine Protected Environments Monitoring Program

Return to a list of all monitoring programs