For Torres Strait Islanders, healthy seagrass meadows are foundational ecosystems supporting totemic species and the continuation of culture, identity, and livelihoods. Traditional Owners have observed and cared for sea country across generations, and for 17 years TSRA and JCU have supported rangers and communities to build on that knowledge through structured, quantitative monitoring. This represents one of the longest continuous ranger-led programs in northern Australia.
Using the 2020 seagrass dieback event across Maluilgal Sea Country as a case study, this presentation demonstrates the value of long-term monitoring in supporting Traditional Owners to understand and respond to environmental change. Follow-up surveys completed in 2025 included the Dugong Sanctuary, recognised by Traditional Owners as essential to the survival of dugong, turtle, and subsistence fisheries, and confirmed what communities had already observed, seagrass is recovering.
This presentation will also introduce a training video developed with researchers through the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub, demonstrating transect-based monitoring methods that bring together scientific approaches and on-country knowledge as part of a ranger-led toolkit for seagrass monitoring across northern Australia. This is the power of combining traditional knowledge with western science over the long term: giving Traditional Owners the information they need to manage their sea country on their own terms. Healthy seagrass means healthy country for all of us.