Port of Weipa post wet season seagrass habitat update: May 2019

[Extract] Seagrass surveys were conducted 8th – 9th May 2019. Three of the five core monitoring meadows in the Intensive Monitoring Area (IMA) were selected for these additional surveys (meadows A2, A6 & A7) (Figure 1). These meadows were selected because they were representative of the dominant seagrass meadow communities identified in the port, and because they were located in seagrass areas most likely to interact with upcoming maintenance dredging. Seagrass meadows were assessed using standard aerial helicopter surveys (Figure 2). The boundary of each seagrass meadow was mapped, and the area, species composition and above-ground biomass in the three monitoring meadows was determined using the established seagrass monitoring techniques for the long term seagrass monitoring program (see McKenna and Rasheed 2019). At each site surveyed, seagrass meadow characteristics including seagrass species composition, above-ground biomass, seagrass and algal percent cover, sediment type and position fixes (GPS; ±5m) were recorded. For a full description of methods see the latest Weipa annual seagrass monitoring report: McKenna and Rasheed 2019