SEAGRASS FLOWER COLLECTION

Calling All Ocean Lovers! No matter your age – we’re calling on members of the Gladstone community to help collect seagrass flowering shoots!

Join in making a difference to progress global seagrass research and to restore your local seagrass meadow

Where?

South End Curtis Island, Gladstone

When?

Sun, 5 October 2025. Meeting time is 0730h at the Curtis Ferry Service. You’ll come back on the afternoon ferry service, around 1600h.

What to bring?

Long sleeve shirt and pants, sun protection  (hat , sunscreen, sunglasses ), water bottle, shoes/wet suit boots that can get wet (and muddy ), a snack or lunch for yourself and your best flower spotters

What do I do?

Head on down to the meeting point! Our CQUniversity CMERC team of scientists will deliver a talk and give you an introduction to seagrass and flower collection on the ferry ride over. When you arrive, have a couple of hours to look around Curtis Island, grab a bite to eat and prepare for the picking! Our CMERC team of scientists will meet back up with you and will be on-hand throughout the day to answer any of your questions.  When the tide is right, we’ll go get picking!

Why?

Multiple pressures affect the health of seagrass ecosystems, which may result in the decline and fragmentation of seagrasses across a meadow.
We will be collecting seagrass flowers to obtain seagrass seeds for:
· Experiments aimed at optimising seed transition into resilient adult plants;
· Increasing seagrass abundance and genetic variability in our Coral Sea Marina nursery;
· Conducting restoration experiments to investigate how to upscale and increase the effectiveness of current seagrass restoration methods.

Got questions? Reach out to us at cmerc-ops@cqu.edu.au for more information