Today we celebrate International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem 2017. No one knows the value of mangroves like the Indigenous Australians who have for centuries fished and crabbed in the abundant shallows in our estuaries of South East Queensland.

The Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Corporation has been developing skills in mangrove propagation and rehabilitation.

The mangroves

The extent of the midden heaps bears testament to this. So it makes sense for them to be intimately involved in the conservation of mangroves, as they are on the Sunshine Coast.

For almost a decade Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Corporation has been developing skills in mangrove propagation and rehabilitation, working with cane farmers, scientists, fishers and Navy Cadets to prevent stream bank erosion whilst at the same time promoting fish habitat in their Sea Country.

Over the years this work has been supported by many partners including Sunshine Coast Council, Mangrovewatch, University of the Sunshine Coast and Healthy Land & Water through National Landcare Program.

And now they are launching the first Sunshine Coast chapter of OzFish Unlimited, a new network of fishers for fish habitat, focusing first on the mangroves, saltmarsh and oysters near Bli Bli on the Maroochy River.

Mangrove Ecosystem