A team of scientists and volunteers is racing to give nature a helping hand in Queensland's tropics — if nature's deadliest creatures don't get to them first.
When Cyclone Yasi tore through the picturesque Mourilyan Harbour south of Cairns a decade ago, the category five monster system destroyed seagrass meadows that provided vital food and shelter for marine life.
Researchers from James Cook University, Indigenous rangers and volunteers are harvesting hundreds of the plants off the coast of Cairns and replanting them in the harbour to re-establish the meadows.
But with danger lurking around every corner, project leader and associate professor Michael Rasheed says it is tricky business.
"It's not like you can go swimming around in these areas — there's crocodiles and stingers for a start," he said.
"You can't just walk in because there's really soft mud that you sink into up to your armpits.
"So, we had to come up with a way of not only collecting the seagrass but actually getting it out onto the meadow."
Reforesting an undersea meadow
The team is trying to reforest the ocean floor. It is the first time such a project has been carried out in the tropics.
Dr Rasheed says the team has had to invent innovative ways to plant the seagrass safely. They have designed biodegradable mesh frames made from potato starch, upon which they attach seagrass shoots.
The frames are then loaded into tinnies and lowered into the water where the roots will hopefully take hold on.
But Dr Rasheed says it's not an exact science.
"The problem with seagrasses is that there's really not a lot of the information on how to grow them and how to make them, propagate them and get them going," he said.
"Our goal from this pilot study is to find a method and demonstrate that we can actually grow them and get them to come back.
"Then that leads to being able to actually do it at the whole scale of the meadow and bring that back."
A safe haven for sea life
The project relies mainly on volunteers and several Indigenous rangers, including James Epong.
"It's an exciting thing because we've got traditional knowledge and western science working together," Mr Epong said.
"It's important to have seagrass here to act as a filter and to restore carbon and it also provides a habitat for fish nurseries and a safe haven for turtles and dugongs."
Dr Rasheed warns that climate change will continue to wreak havoc on seagrass meadows.
"Thankfully, we're not faced with a lot of areas like Mourilyan Harbour where the seagrass is completely gone," he said.
"There are areas that have the ability to recover naturally.
"We know more extreme weather conditions are going to keep happening, and more frequently, so what we want to do is have a technique so we're ready to act, we can intervene and help speed the recovery along."
