Strategically placed seaweed filters might soon be a valuable ally in the war against crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef.
The first seaweed biofilters have just been placed in northern Queensland waters in the hope they will prove effective at sucking harmful nitrogen out of the water.
Poor water quality is a key threat to the World Heritage site and nitrogen runoff associated with farming activities is a particular concern.
That's because it fuels algal blooms that help juvenile starfish reach adulthood, when they switch to eating coral.
Over the next year, researchers will study how the seaweed filters perform at Orpheus Island and the Port of Lucinda, north of Townsville.
Jo Kelly from the Australian Seaweed Institute says it's the first time seaweed cultivation has been strategically wielded as a weapon against nitrogen runoff on the reef.
If it works, the seaweed should be a cost-effective and scalable solution to water quality woes.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is supporting the project and says if all goes well, other species will also benefit.
"We are proud to support innovations such as this which will not only improve conditions for the reef's precious corals, but also help our endangered turtles and dugongs who feed on the region's seagrass beds that need clean water to thrive," the foundation's managing director Anna Marsden said.
Australian Associated Press
