• Seagrass meadows in Cairns Harbour and Trinity Inlet are monitored annually to assess their condition and as an indicator of marine environmental health in the Port of Cairns.
• The three large meadows in Cairns Harbour were in a good condition and remained stable in 2021.
• Due to reductions in area and or biomass the three smaller Estuarine Trinity Inlet monitoring meadows were collectively in a poor condition.
o Two of these small meadows consist of ephemeral species and are highly variable in density and distribution each year.
o The third meadow of larger growing species has improved in condition over the last two years following its complete loss between 2010 and 2015.
• The whole of port assessment in 2021 mapped 1,488 ha of seagrass, the fourth year in a row recording some of largest areas of seagrass in the Cairns region, but a slight reduction compared to the past 3 years.
• Two years after completion of the Cairns Shipping Development Project (CSDP) there were no signs of impacts on the extensive seagrass monitoring meadows adjacent to the harbour works.
• The meadows closest to the dredge operation remained in a good condition and both area and biomass have been stable since the CSDP works were completed
