OceanWatch and a team of citizen scientists are now monitoring the mangroves to start the process of nursing them back to health.
Mangroves serve as a habitat for thousands of species of marine and land creatures, and are essential for a balanced aquatic ecosystem.
During the bushfires, sections of mangrove forest around Batemans Bay, a coastal town 285km south of Sydney, were effectively cooked by the heat of the intense fires, killing off trees and destroying habitat. Where healthy mangroves had once thrived, all that remained were skeleton trees that caused bait fish to move offshore, and sediment leading to poor water quality for local oysters.
Seeing the damage first hand, oyster grower Kevin McAsh invited OceanWatch to view the burned landscape and put together a plan to regenerate the mangroves.
OceanWatch spatial project officer Dr Claudia Santori visited the area early in 2021 to inspect the trees damaged by the bushfires along Clyde River and at Mogendoura Creek.
“Even a year after bushfires had torn through the landscape, sections were not regenerating naturally. This is because of the tidal nature of mangroves, and though the trees produce many seeds, they don’t always land somewhere they can fix onto, or the seeds aren’t viable,” she said.
“The first part of our program was to observe the impacted sites to understand how mangroves regenerate. Part of this observation is the training of on-ground citizen scientists who can monitor progress. This data will be used to shape an action plan catered for each section of the mangroves.
“We need to show the extent of the damage and the limited ability of the mangroves to regenerate on their own, so we can get the permits we need to revive the mangroves as they are on public land.”
Once permits and data are in hand, Dr Santori said there were several ways the group could aid the mangroves.
“Some actions are passive, like signage and talking to landowners to keep them off the mangroves as they regenerate, while others are more active, requiring hand planting of seedlings or even dropping them from a modified drone,” she said.
An issue was the difficulty in managing regeneration when mangroves varied and did not respond to the same techniques.
“The challenge with mangroves is there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Some mangroves are muddy, others sandy, so the data we collect will guide us for the best approach for the section being regenerated,” Dr Santori said.
OceanWatch expected to complete its observation work by the end of 2021, with regeneration work to be completed by April 2022. The hope is by training locals in mangrove monitoring they can continue to care for the mangroves for years to come.
More information is available at: https://landcareledbushfiregrants.org.au/
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