ACRN Symposium 2023

The 2023 Australian Coastal Restoration Network symposium was held at James Cook University, Townsville 18 and 19 May.

The theme for the conference was Roadmap to large-scale restoration, emphasising critical linkages on how we can coordinate efforts to scale up and fast-track restoration on a national scale.

Restoration stories

A roadmap to coordinated landscape scale coastal and marine restoration.

A National Environmental Science Program Marine and Coastal Hub project, led by CSIRO and James Cook University, outlines a ‘Roadmap’ to coordinated landscape scale coastal and marine restoration in Australia.

The research outlines that large scale and coordinated coastal and marine ecosystem restoration will benefit our natural assets and improve our capability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It will also generate jobs and provide communities with economic and social benefits. However, there are a number of significant barriers precluding widespread implementation of restoration and NbS, and that a science-based plan which is co-designed with diverse end users is required moving forward.

To conduct the research, the research team engaged with over 150 individuals nationally from September 21 to March 2022. Engagement occurred through meetings, workshops, and a national survey. The data and information was then synthesized into a ‘roadmap’ which articulates 10 guiding principles, and for each principle outlines the present state, a desirable future state, current NESP funded research, research gaps, and key actions. The ten roadmap principles are:  

1.       Co-design is central

2.       Fit-for-purpose governance

3.       No-gap funding

4.       Access to social, economic and biophysical data

5.       Evidence-based and transparent decision making

6.       Restoration is coordinated and at scale

7.       Robust monitoring, maintenance, evaluation and reporting

8.       Clear strategy to adapt to climate change

9.       Nature-based solutions are implemented

10.   Knowledge is shared effectively

The research team included researchers and end-users from CSIRO, JCU, University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, University of Queensland, Noonuccal, Ngugi and Goenpul from Quandamooka Country, Gold Coast City Council, Queensland Department of Environment and Science Wetlands Team, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, and Australian Government Department of Agriculture Water and the Environment. Thank you to all of the members of ACRN who engaged with the research team. For more information the full report is available here: https://publications.csiro.au/publications/publication/PIcsiro:EP2022-1158

Written by Dr Megan Saunders, CSIRO

South Australian restoration

Along the Adelaide metropolitan coast, we have historically lost near-shore seagrass meadows, kelp forests, and oyster reefs. We are working to co-restore oysters (Ostrea angasi), kelp (Ecklonia radiata), and seagrass habitat (Posidonia and Amphibolis) in intermingled patches by utilising the conditions provided by the 10-hectares of boulder reef constructed to restore native oysters. To date, we’ve seen that kelp transplants boost the recruitment of oysters, and that the boulder reefs dampen wave energy enough to encourage more settlement of recruiting seagrass seedlings (where hydrodynamic energy otherwise restricts seedling establishment). This season we will delve deeper into the synergies between oyster filtration and biodeposition and seagrass health, and how oysters might boost the growth of kelp. Additionally, we will be looking at the functional role of an important ecosystem-structuring grazer, abalone (Haliotis laevigata), that may introduce grazing pressure to maintain algae-free substrate for oyster and kelp recruitment. However, we will first concentrate on quantifying abalone survivorship following transplants of juvenile abalone stock.

Continuing our work to understand the key enabling factors for successful marine restorations, we are working with legal scholars and social scientists to understand the social and policy roadblocks to restoration. For example, interviews with the former Environment Minister and the key policy-makers that oversaw South Australia’s last two reef restorations, clarified the importance of having high-level champions within government to enable what is currently a unfit-for-purpose policy pathway for subtidal marine restoration. Restorations are increasingly being undertaken by community and non-government groups, meaning a more cohesive policy pathway is needed to make restoration an accessible and sustainable undertaking.

Written by Dr Dominic McAfee, The University of Adelaide