Protecting vital seagrass habitats at Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- emmarehn5
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
James Cook University TropWATER scientists are boosting the recovery of seagrass meadows in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Marine Park by installing underwater fences that protected depleted seagrass from turtles grazing to give them a chance for recovery.
Now, the first of these protected areas are thriving – growing ten times as thick and twice the height after just three months.
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are a remote group of islands over 2,700 km northwest of Perth, surrounded by a marine park covering more than 467,000 square kilometres. Seagrass meadows grow in shallow waters around the islands, supporting a large green sea turtle population and fish that are a vital food source for the local Cocos Malay community.
But the loss of 80% of seagrass in the Cocos Lagoon from 2006-2018 signalled that the meadow was close to collapse – driven by coastal development and weather conditions and exacerbated by grazing pressure from turtles.
TropWATER’s Professor Michael Rasheed said while turtle grazing is a natural part of seagrass ecosystems, the dramatic loss of seagrass meant turtles were feeding faster than it could regrow.
“The seagrass needed a break — it was already depleted and couldn’t bounce back before the turtles grazed it again. Soon it could have lost its ability to regrow,” Professor Rasheed said. “We needed to step in and support the natural recovery process. This is when we started to section off parts of the meadows with these underwater barriers.”
Last year, a JCU TropWATER-led project was launched to install barriers around 400 square metre areas of the depleted meadow to stop turtles from grazing there while seagrass regrew.
After three months, seagrass inside the barriers had ten times more coverage and the seagrass had grown more than twice the height of those outside the protection zone.
Professor Rasheed, who leads the project, said these early results are very promising for the recovery of seagrasses and the marine life they support.
“This is an exciting development because it shows clear recovery potential when habitats receive targeted protection,” Professor Rasheed said.
“Seagrass restoration using this approach has never been attempted at this scale before, and we’re relieved it seems to be working as these meadows needed help immediately.”
Barriers are now in place at West Island and Home Island, providing protected areas for regrowth and acting as a source of seagrass seeds and propagules for recovery beyond the barriers. Early findings from this project highlight how collaborative conservation efforts can support natural recovery processes through targeted protection.
The project is funded by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine and Coastal Hub, in partnership with Cocos (Keeling) Islands community members, Parks Australia, Cocos Marine Care, and Sea Country Solutions.
