Successful IOT Grant to help Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island Marine Parks
Tangaroa Blue Foundation is one of 17 grantees chosen to deliver projects that will support the recently proclaimed Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands marine parks.
The new marine parks protect 744,070 square kilometres of incredibly unique and ecologically significant marine habitats and species.
Tangaroa Blue Foundations “Indian Ocean Territories Marine Debris Initiative” will build on existing marine debris datasets and include the implementation of our robust monitoring methodologies so that we can work alongside the community and key stakeholders to measure the impact of policy change around plastics from a state, national and international perspective.
Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s WA Project Coordinator, Casey Woodward says “this is such a great opportunity to diversify the way in which we support and share knowledge with the Indian Ocean Territory community and other stakeholders to tackle key threats like marine debris to marine life and amenities. We have really focused the components of the project on capacity building and data analysis and we cannot wait to get started!”.
Some of the other complimentary projects that will be undertaken include:
- Supporting the Christmas Island community to protect the iconic red crabs during their annual breeding migration
- Restoring seagrass habitats to provide an ecosystem nursery for fish and other species
- Surveying resident foraging sea turtles, their habitats, diets and movement, with a focus on green turtles
- Researching and monitoring coral reef health and diversity, including comparing them with the diversity of reef species from other locations.
Tangaroa Blue are grateful to those that provided letters of support and volunteered their time to add value to our application. We are looking forward to the rollout of a successful programme doing our part to preserve and protect marine life in Western Australia.
This project was made possible via the Australian Governments Ocean Leadership Package supporting the Indian Ocean Territories (IOT) Marine Parks Grant.
