Gardening Below the Surface - Operation Posidonia

As part of National Science Week, the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) held sessions to raise public awareness about the fragile nature of seagrass meadows. Although this event was promoted as a Science event, it had clear links to the Geography syllabus - both the Year 10 Environmental Change and Management topic and the Year 9 - Biomes topic. SIMS is located on Chowder Bay Rd, Mosman. The session involved examining specimens form nearby Chowder Bay/Clifton Gardens, a tour of classroom facilities and a display of seawall panel designs. As information on the Great Southern Reef becomes more readily available, some of these activities would tie in really well with this case study of Geography classes.

​Seagrass and seaweed - there was a collection aquatic organisms which could be identified using a field chart and also facilities to exam them under the microscope

Part of the day involved an art project to promote public awareness about seagrass. The artworks were transferred onto silks that had been dyed to represent seagrass. This became part of an installation at Mosman Art Gallery. You can read more about the art project here: https://www.lissfinney.com/public-projects

There was also a display of seawall panels designed by Living Seawalls. These panels are designed to be adhered to seawalls to encourage biodiversity. The crevices are intended to encourage aquatic species to use the structure as habitat.
You can read about Living Seawalls here:
https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/​

There is a testing area where the Living Seawall panels are being tested in Chowder Bay. The shark nets at this site are also a common place for snorkelers to find seahorses.

​I'm definitely coming back for a closer look.