News Release December 19th, 2008
Marine group awarded grant to work with Batemans Marine Park
Jenny Edwards and Dr Coleman
Eurobodalla’s Nature Coast Marine Group has been awarded a Caring for Our Country Community Coastcare grant to work with the Batemans Marine Park.
The grant will allow the marine group to continue working with Batemans Marine Park researcher Dr. Melinda Coleman in assessing how effective the park’s zoning is for shallow subtidal flora and fauna.
The program has been running for a year and has already provided valuable information about fish, invertebrates and seaweeds living on very shallow rocky reefs that are rarely studied.
Dr Melinda Coleman and Dr Brendan Kelaher from the Batemans Marine Park designed the monitoring program for the Nature Coast Marine Group snorkelling volunteers.
Dr Coleman said the program had to be “scientifically rigorous while still being achievable” for the community group members who only had minimal training.
She said the program involved training days, the production of “cheat sheets” with photographs of commonly seen species, as well as workshops to help with species identification.
Dr Coleman said new volunteers of all ages and abilities were always welcome.
“Many new volunteers begin by counting easily identified species such as black sea urchins or turban snails. We won’t drop you in the deep end!”
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