Dr. Anitra Thorhaug Ph.D. (the Seagrass Lady) is maintaining contact with our Society. She recently sent us a copy of her co-authored Frontiers in Marine Science Journal article titled Seagrass restoration in the greater Southeast Asia region: techniques, species, survival and comparisons among investigations.
A little later, I sent Dr Thorhaug these details from “Building a national seagrass mega-dataset” written by Julia Scott in the latest edition of Integrated Marine Observing System’s (IMOS) Marine Matters (Issue 44, December 2025): –
Hi Anitra, I just came across this article which I thought that may be of some interest to you: –
“Building a national seagrass mega-dataset Written by Julia Scott IMOS is producing a comprehensive national seagrass mega-dataset, which will soon be available through the new Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) Portal. Developed as part of the IMOS Data Uplift program and supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP MaC Project 5.9), the dataset aggregates more than 65 individual collections into a unified, cloud-optimised Parquet format. Covering over 3.2 million geospatial survey points from 1967 to 2025, it provides the most consolidated view of seagrass distribution along the entire Australian coastline. Each record is tagged with enhanced metadata, including links to Australian Marine Parks and Commonwealth marine regions, along with a common spatial index to support subsetting and temporal/spatial analysis. The dataset is designed to underpin the upcoming State of the Environment Report, as well as ongoing research, conservation, and policy initiatives. Seagrasses are recognised globally as an Essential Ocean Variable. They provide critical habitat, stabilise sediments, and store carbon. However, seagrass data has historically been fragmented across regions and institutions. By harmonising these datasets, IMOS and AODN are making essential information more accessible to marine scientists, managers, and decision-makers to track trends, identify threats, and guide conservation action. Additional datasets will be added before final release. The initiative is a partnership with the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub, through the project Making marine environmental data more assessment ready (Project 5.9). Tim Moltmann, Independent Chair of the Hub, says: “Australia is fortunate to have world class marine research infrastructure, institutions, and applied research programs. What we don’t always do so well is the synthesis and analysis step, to turn high quality research data into information and products that can be used by governments and industries in routine assessments of the marine environment. Project 5.9 is investing into this gap, using the 2026 State of Environment Report as its primary use case. We see this as a really exciting project given the impetus provided by the review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Samuel Review) and the Sustainable Ocean Plan. By combining the strengths of IMOS, AODN and NESP, we can provide decision makers with better information, faster – exactly what’s needed in response to rapid changes in the marine environment.”
IMOS is based at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Tasmania. I think that I may have witnessed IMOS being there when I was visiting the University in 2011 & 2012 for REDMAP Australia’s planning workshops of the National Steering Committee. I could, however, be mistaking IMAS (Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies) for IMOS (Integrated Marine Observing System).
According to their website, “Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) is a national collaborative research infrastructure program supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). IMOS operates as a fully integrated national system, observing ocean-basin and regional scales, and measuring key physical, biological, and chemical variables that underpin marine research, environmental management, and policy. The system is designed to be a fully-integrated, national system, observing at ocean-basin and regional scales, and covering physical, chemical, and biological variables. All IMOS data is openly and freely accessible to the marine and climate science community, other stakeholders, and users, and international collaborators.”
According to IMAS’s website , “The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania is internationally recognised for excellence in marine and Antarctic research. Located on the Hobart waterfront, our IMAS headquarters houses world-class laboratories and teaching spaces, and cultivate new research and educational opportunities. We share this landmark building with important research partnerships, including Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP), the Australian Centre for Antarctic Science (ACEAS) and more.”
Both IMAS & IMOS are linked to the University of Tasmania. But I digress. I soon received this response from Dr Thorhaug: –
“Dear Steve, What I need particularly is extent of seagrass from Northern Territory west side to below Perth. That extent in Km2 would be very valuable to me now. Thanks, Anitra Thorhaug, Ph.D.”
I agreed to help Dr Thorhaug and soon sent off this request to IMOS: –
“Re “Building a national seagrass mega-dataset” written by Julia Scott, Are you able to help me to find out the extent of seagrass from the Northern Territory west side to below Perth, WA in Km2 please?”
IMOS’s Project Support Officer, Benjamin Stepin sent us these details for passing on to Dr Thorhaug: –
“Hi Steve, Thank you for your enquiry. As the product is not yet ready for release, we’re unable to share the file at this stage. However, I can confirm that we are currently in negotiations with WA providers to include their seagrass data in the national dataset.
At present, there is a gap in the area you requested, but this will be addressed once we ingest the data from the WA providers.
“Below is the current extent of the seagrass data in the hex grid:
I hope this helps, and I’ll be happy to let you know when the data is ready for analysis.
In the meantime if you are merely after extent, you can have a look at Seamap which has the benthic habitat layers. Our dataset focuses on multi-year surveys for time series analysis, where the benthic habitat layer has no time associated with it and is just extent.
Thanks, and kind regards, Benjamin Stepin”
Those details were passed on to Dr Thorhaug.
Our Society’s Secretary, David Muirhead recently photographed this Posidonia at Second Valley and posted the photo to iNaturalist: –
David comments for the post were, “Again, the Tapeweed around the jetty looks healthy and has plenty of fruits and flowers. Perhaps more than the usual seasonal average? (Speculation only, but others have used the terrestrial response of flowering plants to bushfires analogy, and it seems likely that seagrasses can capitalise on the after-effects of (algal) blooms to increase their recruitment capacity. More nutrients available transiently post-HAB and fewer herbivores).”
David also posted this Posidonia photo on iNaturalist: –
His comments for the post included, “During this snorkel in the Kaurna Heritage Tidal Fish Trap Pool I thought most of the Posidonia meadows there were quite healthy, however I noticed a few very dead looking patches in the middle of one or two Posidonia meadows, for which the likely cause would probably be the severe prolonged HAB (Karenia spp confirmed as the main causative dinoflagellate genus).I don’t know why such focal effects occur in these very shallow subtidal meadows, but they were quite striking.”