Published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, the research set out to establish the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its ability to generate high-quality habitat maps around five Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. Ten fishermen, based on their individual experience and knowledge, were asked to pinpoint areas
Gathaagudu/Shark Bay is located on Malgana (pronounced Mal-guh-nuh) Country. It’s a place of great natural beauty and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The landscape is a stunning array of colors as the desert meets the ocean. Below the sea’s surface, 4,000 square kilometers of seagrass meadows sway. That’s equivalent to
Published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, the research set out to establish the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its ability to generate high-quality habitat maps around five Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. Ten fishermen, based on their individual experience and knowledge, were asked to pinpoint areas where they believed seagrass beds could be found along the coastlines of their respective islands. The maps they produced were then compared with satellite data of the same regions, with analysis showing an average accuracy of 78% – and a high of 92%. The fishermen’s maps were also 11% more accurate than those used by the Greek government in the development of environmental policies, with more than half of the government maps underestimating the scale of seagrass beds found across the region. The researchers say their findings are a clear demonstration of the value of tapping into local knowledge, and how doing so can be a low-cost means of generating environmental data without compromising the high accuracy needed for the data to still be valuable for policy use. Ten fishermen, based on their individual experience and knowledge, were asked to pinpoint areas where they believed seagrass beds could be found along the coastlines of their respective islands. Credit Konstantis AlexopoulosUniversity of Plymouth The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Plymouth and the Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation. They worked closely with fishermen on the islands of Fourni, Arki, Patmos, Lipsi and Leros, each of which are home to communities made up largely of small artisanal fishing vessels. Konstantis Alexopoulos, a BSc (Hons) Ocean Science and Marine Conservation graduate from the University of Plymouth, now pursuing a Ph.D. with the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, is its lead author. He said, “Some of the fishermen we spoke to had been sailing the same waters every day for more than 60 years. That experience has given them a huge amount of knowledge, but we wanted to test precisely how accurate their empirical data were in comparison to more traditional sources of information. “For some personal recollections to be 90% as accurate as the data provided from satellites is really impressive, and something we should be taking into greater account. It also highlights the importance of gathering such information, as there is a huge wealth of data within local fishing communities that is otherwise at risk of being lost as fewer younger people enter the profession in the future.” Those involved in the research say it is another example of how communities, scientists and decision-makers could work in collaboration to meet ambitions set out within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. And despite it being centered around the eastern Aegean Sea, they believe their findings – and the methods used to reach them – will be relevant in other parts of the ocean. In particular, they say LEK could play a pivotal role in generating a greater understanding of deeper marine ecosystems which satellites can’t see and for which there are currently little or no maps available to guide management decisions. Dr. Abigail McQuatters-Gollop, Associate Professor of Marine Conservation at the University and the current study’s senior author, added, “There is a huge global drive to get more people involved in projects that incorporate elements of citizen science. “Despite that, expert local ecological knowledge is still being dismissed or discredited by those making decisions about the environment. But just because information hasn’t been generated by expensive technology, it doesn’t make it any less valuable. “Using people’s life experiences, gathered from fishing and living in an area over many years, alongside other scientific data can help us develop and implement actions that maintain a healthy global ocean.” More information: Konstantis Alexopoulos et al, Is sparse local ecological knowledge accurate enough for policy? A seagrass mapping case study from five Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean Sea, Ocean & Coastal Management (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2025.107627
Gathaagudu/Shark Bay is located on Malgana (pronounced Mal-guh-nuh) Country. It’s a place of great natural beauty and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The landscape is a stunning array of colors as the desert meets the ocean. Below the sea’s surface, 4,000 square kilometers of seagrass meadows sway. That’s equivalent to 226 AFL footy fields. The Shark Bay Heritage Area is home to 12 of the world’s 72 seagrass species. Unfortunately, more than a quarter of the seagrass died during the 2010/11 marine heat wave. To restore the seagrass, a deep knowledge of the area and its plants are needed as well as scientific tools for genetic testing. Malgana mob brought their knowledge and UWA researchers brought their tools. Together, they’re bringing the wirriya jalyanu back to life. A deep connection Malgana people have a 30,000-year connection with Gathaagudu. They have a deep knowledge of Country and are passionate about looking after the area. Aunty Pat is a Malgana Gantharri/Elder. She says Gathaagudu is paradise. “If we look after Country, Country will look after us,” says Aunty Pat. Malgana people had known Sea Country was changing for a long time. “The fishermen knew it,” says Aunty Pat. “Fishermen know Sea Country better than anyone. You talk to any of those fishermen and they will tell you stories about the changes in biology and the marine environment.” UNESCO only recognizes Gathaagudu as an important ecological site, not a cultural site. “We’re trying to [get] our cultural values listed alongside our natural values,” says Aunty Pat. “They’re of equal importance.” These cultural values and knowledge are key to the wirriya jalyanu restoration to provide a broader historical context of Sea Country in Gathaagudu. Teamwork Dr. Elizabeth Sinclair is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at UWA. She worked with Aunty Pat and Malgana Traditional Owners to restore the seagrass. Sinclair says researchers have been working on the seagrass for around 15 years. Seagrass grows extremely well in Gathaagudu because the bay area is very shallow, has a sandy bottom and has no big ocean swells. The main seagrass disturbance is dugongs feeding on it. When seagrass is gone, the sandy floor is left exposed to tides. The sand shifts a lot, making the water cloudy. With sand constantly moving, it’s difficult for new plants to grow. This creates a system that’s hard to reverse. “By the time the heat wave came along and in the following years, it was clear that parts of the seagrass meadow were not going to recover naturally and they needed a bit of help,” says Sinclair. Sinclair and the research team looked at genetic markers in the seagrass DNA to understand how the population was structured and how to best restore it. Dugong in a seagrass meadow. Credit: via SeagrassWatch Distribution There are two large species of seagrass that grow on Gathaagudu Sea Country: ribbon weed and wire weed. These plants can grow up to 2 meters tall, creating an underwater forest and crucial habitat for marine life. Growing different types of seagrass requires different strategies. Ribbon weed grows like lawn, with new shoots emerging from the sand. “If you stick your head underwater, all you see is the green shoots,” says Sinclair. “You don’t see [a] massive network of roots.” In Gathaagudu, most of the ribbon weed is one giant clone that is 180 kilometers long. That’s longer than the drive from Perth to Bunbury. It’s the largest known plant on Earth. Knowing how the seagrass is genetically connected informs how the team approaches restoring the meadow. Wire weed grows entire seedlings that break off and float around until they land in the sand. This distribution strategy means wire weed has much more genetic diversity spread further around the bay. “We have the genetics to understand how the plants are related and then we use that information to figure out which plants to collect and where to grow them,” says Sinclair. Underwater gardening The Malgana rangers were heavily involved in the restoration process. “Rangers collected a lot of the restoration material because some now have dive tickets,” says Sinclair. “If you’re working in really shallow water, you can do it on a snorkel, but it’s much easier to do it on scuba.” To collect ribbon weed, rangers would take 10–15cm cuttings. These could be replanted and held in place with a U-shaped piece of wire for about 6 months until they grew new roots. For the wire weed restoration, the team collected seedlings and replanted them at a new location. Instead of being secured with wire, they would hang onto snaggers, a “sand-filled sausage” with a hessian coating. The hessian provided an anchor for the wire weed seedlings to attach to. Aunty Pat says the rangers loved working with the research team because it was a meaningful way to care for Country. “They couldn’t get enough of it,” says Aunty Pat. “To be working in a trial like that, they learned so much. They were happy to be doing something that was meaningful.” Ribbon weed meadow. Credit: Rachel Austin via UWA ‘Medicine for us’ Opportunities for Malgana people to return to Country are few and far between. They can’t participate on a regular basis because of a housing shortage at Gathaagudu. “The Malgana Aboriginal Corporation currently have several rangers in the program, unfortunately everyone has to rely on staying with family or friends who live in Gathaagudu because there isn’t enough accommodation due to the housing crisis,” says Aunty Pat. These types of partnerships enable Malgana people to work on Country and the younger generation the chance to reconnect to the land. “It helps them with their healing [and] their cultural and personal identity,” says Aunty Pat. Restoration team filling seagrass ‘snaggers.’ Credit: Gary Kendrick, UWA Shared knowledge “Shared knowledge leads to an improved understanding of our environment,” says Sinclair. “As Western researchers, we come in, look at a site and focus on one little thing … We have fairly narrowly focused research areas. When you start talking with Traditional Owners,
