Bess Murphy leading a team of volunteers for mangrove monitoring and accompanied by mangrove expert, Dr. Norm Duke.(2018)
Far North Queensland’s estuaries have the highest diversity of mangroves in the world but are at risk. These coastal wetlands (mangrove and saltmarsh) provide vital ecosystem services to our region; reducing shoreline erosion, providing habitat for marine life, sequestering carbon, and filtering runoff. For those who love seafood, fishing, snorkeling, or simply want to reduce the flood risk on your property – you can thank the mangroves. However, coastal wetlands are at risk from urban development and climate change. Over the past 10 years we have seen mass mangrove dieoff in the Gulf of Carpentaria in 2015 and severe successive flooding in Cairns and surrounds from 2023 -2025. These local issues require local solutions to build the resilience of coastal wetlands as we face an uncertain climate change future.
CAFNEC’s MangroveWatch Chapter is a citizen science program that educates and empowers volunteers and First Nations Partners to deliver data-driven, community-led local action that protects coastal wetlands. It began in 2016 thanks to Bess Murphy who did her Honours on mangrove and saltmarsh habitats. After working with the national MangroveWatch leaders on a Reef Blitz event with them and Mandingalbay Yidinji Aboriginal Corporation, Bess led the charge to secure $2,000 of seed funding from the Local Marine Advisory Committee to start the Chapter. In the first year, more than 55 volunteers were trained! It also filled a monitoring gap that existed between Rockhampton in Central Queensland and Princess Charlotte Bay in Cape York. Over the past 9 years, this project has overcome the challenges of staff turnover, the Covid-19 pandemic, and funding gaps.
Alex Sinchak teaching CAFNEC Volunteers and Holloways Beach Coastcare saltmarsh monitoring methods at Thomatis Creek. (2022)
The Chapter’s current funding, through the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF), ends October 2025. This offers an opportunity to reflect on the key outcomes and learnings from this multi-year funding.
Rachel Platte teaching school kids about the importance of mangroves. (2024)
From 2019 -2021, we began expanding the program. We had 7 partnerships with groups like South Cape York Catchments, Great Barrier Reef Legacy, Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre and Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation, and monitored mangroves from Daintree to Gordonvale. Discussions were held to expand south to Innisfail and Cardwell and include the data in the Regional Reef Report Card. We also initiated saltmarsh monitoring and leveraged community engagement to advocate for repairing Jack Barnes Boardwalk. This initial funding round provided a new level of certainty, enabling the development of a long-term vision for our chapter that was implemented in the following rounds.
From 2022 – 2025, CAFNEC began implementing our long-term vision involving project expansion and restructuring. We now have 11 partners, including First Nations Partners for every estuary, education centres, boat operators, and landcare/coastcare groups. We were able to remunerate Indigenous Rangers and Traditional Owners for their involvement. This strengthened the knowledge-sharing across local knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, and western science and promoted reconciliation. It also paved the way for us to transition to a First Nations-led and citizen scientist-supported model as our First Nations Partners are currently being trained to self-coordinate monitoring activities. Thanks to our partnership with Holloways Beach Coastcare, Thomatis Creek was added to our saltmarsh monitoring. Mangrove data was included in the Regional Reef Report Card – a first for citizen science! Mangrove monitoring shifted further south covering Cairns to Cardwell. We stopped coordinating monitoring in the North as our capacity changed to accommodate a new pilot project – the Local Action Plans.
Alongside Earthwatch Australia and GBRF, we developed and implemented a Local Action Plan (LAP) process to drive community-led coastal wetland restoration and education activities. This is unique to our Chapter and provides learnings for the national MangroveWatch Program. Current LAPs are in the Barron, Mulgrave, and Hinchinbrook estuaries. For the Barron, long-term CAFNEC volunteer Rob Williams identified a section of Barr Creek that was historically over-cleared. He has led the charge to: build a relationship with the neighbours, request a property survey from the Department of Resources, advise Cairns Regional Council to clean up the area post Cyclone Jasper, build a fence along the boundary line, and organise for Holloways Beach Coastcare to do the revegetation.
Rob Williams standing at the fence line delineating the property boundary of Barr Creek Fish Habitat. (2024)
In the Mulgrave, Rachel and Clive recently completed their first year of an education campaign. They taught children across three schools about the importance of coastal wetlands and have received multiple requests to share their knowledge at other schools. For Hinchinbrook, Vito Napoli and Gabi Plumm are working to build a bamboo fence to reduce shoreline erosion and have completed a lidar drone survey with MangoesMapping to determine site elevation level and are receiving expert advice from a coastal engineer to satisfy permitting requirements. It is amazing to see what the local community can accomplish! The Townsville and Mackay MangroveWatch Chapters have now begun using the LAP process, creating a legacy of community-led action for the protection of coastal wetlands.
Vito Napoli, Gabi Plumm, and David Bender standing with supporters after the completion of a Lidar Drone survey by MangoesMapping. (2024)
CAFNEC’s MangroveWatch Chapter has been of great benefit to both the environment and the community! The multi-year funding has been crucial to our project expansion and restructuring. It gave us time to explore new ideas, implement them, and measure the outcomes. As this ends in October 2025, we are currently seeking funds to continue the program. This will allow us to complete the transition to a First Nations-led, citizen scientist-supported model, expand mangrove monitoring back into the north, and continue supporting the Local Action Plans. In a time of climate change uncertainty, we need financial certainty and flexibility.
CAFNEC’s MangroveWatch Chapter is funded by the partnership between the Australia Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Project delivery is done in partnership with Earthwatch Australia and MangroveWatch.
