Estuary Care Foundation SA: community led restoration & climate adaptation Presentation to SA Coastal Conference 9 th November 2017 Catherine McMahon, Estuary Care Foundation
Port River and Barker Inlet Estuary
Local environment action
Why form Foundation • Concern • Frustration • Examples elsewhere • Claiming our vision • Vehicle for sourcing funds
What the future holds AdaptWest, regional climate adaptation plan
What the future holds
Living Shoreline – Port River Drawings: Peri Coleman 2015
Nature-based solutions • Potentially lessen the impact of sea level rise • Use instead of or in conjunction with hard structures • More viable now pollution into the Port River has lessened
USA estuary restoration www.cbf.org July 2016
Billion Oyster Project Goal: 1 billion oysters & 100 acres oyster reefs by 2035 October 2017: Source: https://billionoysterproject.org
Harbour School – production hub Image - http://www.billionoysterproject.org/
Key priorities of the Foundation • Trials of Living Shorelines • Shellfish Reef Restoration • Seagrass Restoration • Community education and engagement
Living Shorelines • Eco-engineering • Environmentally friendly sea walls (NSW) • Coastal Resilience (USA)
Living Shorelines • shoreline protection options • offer erosion control benefits • natural coastal processes remain • strategically place plants, stone, sand fill and other materials
USA experience
How cost effective is natural infrastructure? The Nature Conservancy 16
Examples of Living Shorelines This living shoreline replaced a failing bulkhead at a state boat ramp on the Chowan River, North Carolina (Source: Coastal Review Online)
Examples of Living Shorelines Avon River Environment Association (Canada) building a Living Shoreline 2010
Example of Living Shoreline, NSW Carss bush park seawall with rockpools, extended slope, crevices, endangered saltmarsh, Kogarah Council 2016
Living Shoreline: bagged recycled shell OceanWatch Australia is helping NSW coastal communities turn old oyster shell into living shorelines in an Australian first
Shellfish in Kaurna life
Now: mussels in Inner Harbour Mussels on New Port Quays marina, November 2015
Now: shellfish on Flinders Ports beacon Beacon taken out near Birkenhead, photo 31st October, 2016
Now: pinna reef pinna reef at Outer Harbour, January 2017
Port River Shellfish Restoration Project • Formed in January 2016 • Advisers • Learn • Goals and plans • Volunteer manual • Community NRM grant
Initial research questions • Can Ostrea angasi ( approx 60mm) survive at our trial sites? • What spat can be recruited during the spawning seasons of mussels and Ostrea angasi ? • Can Ostrea angasi spat on shell survive at our trial sites?
Grow sites
Outcomes
Seagrass Restoration • Monitoring program along Torrens Island • Seagrass restoration trial, north of Snowden’s • Lessening of existing impacts on seagrass
Seagrass in Port River Zostera in Port River; photo by Kym Murphy
Zostera near Quarantine Station, Torrens Island, Feb 2017; photo by Peter Carter
Community Education
Community Education
Community Education World Environment Forum, June 2017
Community Education Science Alive, August 2017
Implications: Policy • Climate Adaptation • Living Shorelines • Stormwater management • Urban infill • Coordination across agencies
Community Development • Resilient community • Estuary: multiple stewards • Finding common cause with others • Hope
Community Development • Collaboration: researchers, universities and schools • Support: local environmental and other groups • Support: government and businesses
Future: Inner Harbour
Future: Inner Harbour Short term: • Bagged shell trials • Swim Longer term: • Shoreline protection • Reefs and snorkel
Future in Estuary • Plan for long term changes • Shoreline protection • Wetlands to address stormwater • Carbon sequestration • Habitat protection & retreat
Estuary Care Foundation Inc http://lefevre.noticeboard.net.au/?page_id=901 Catherine McMahon estuarycare@internode.on.net 0413 578086
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