Blue Carbon Lab

Planning a wetland project? This handbook has you covered.

A practical guide built on best-available science and restoration standards for in Victoria 🌿💡

We’re proud to launch the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Handbook — a go-to resource for anyone working to restore blue carbon ecosystems in southeastern Australia.

📘 Download the handbook:https://www.bluecarbonlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Victorian-Coastal-Wetland-Restoration-Handbook.pdf

Developed by researchers from BlueCarbonLab and the RMIT Centre for Nature Positive Solutions, the handbook draws on scientific evidence, expert advice, and regional, national, and international standards to support best-practice coastal restoration.

Inside, you'll find guidance on:
📓 Planning blue carbon projects
🌏 Site selection and prioritisation
✅ Permits and approvals
💰 Funding opportunities
🛠️ Restoration techniques
📏 Monitoring and measuring success

This free, evolving resource helps close the gap between restoration science and practice, empowering practitioners to restore and scale coastal wetland projects across Victoria.

📣 Explore the handbook and share it with your network!

Scaling up for more resilient restoration 🌱💪

Weather adversity can be a real challenge when it comes to coastal wetland restoration, especially when active intervention is involved.

Based on field observations, our team are speculating that scaling up our single BESE-Elements into larger plots may be more effective at revegetating , allowing plants to survive better in severe weather or exposed coastlines.

To test this, our researchers have developed a new experimental design by grouping 4 X BESE structures together with an added BESE layer, along with an increased density of saltmarsh and mangrove plantings. The mangroves, grown at Advance College Native Nursery, have been grouped into younger and older seedling clusters to explore how this affects their success.

So far, the team has successfully planted over 550 mangrove seedlings and 80 saltmarsh transplants across 280 BESE structures in this pilot design across Western Port and Port Phillip Bay, Victoria.

By incorporating more structures and clustered plantings, this aims to boost resilience against high-energy weather events, ensuring that our restoration efforts are more robust in the face of future climate challenges 🌊

is funded by Beach Energy Ltd.

Did you know that tidal marsh restoration can recover the properties and functions of a healthy reference marsh in as little as 5 years?

With fast approaching, we are celebrating the power of tidal marsh restoration with a good news story published today through Global Water Forum.

🔗 Read the full article here - https://www.globalwaterforum.org/2025/01/30/from-mud-to-marsh-in-five-years-the-rapid-recovery-of-ecosystem-services-following-tidal-marsh-restoration/

🌱 If at first you don’t succ-seed, try again!

🌊 Seagrass seed sowing, or direct seeding, is a widely used method for worldwide. Last year, our team held initial trials but encountered challenges in successfully sowing Zostera muelleri seeds.

💡 In response, our researchers turned to another established approach: collecting the growing tips of healthy seagrass plants – or ‘fragments’ – and securing them to biodegradable BESE-Elements structures. At our field site in Queensferry, Victoria we successfully transplanted over 160 fragments and will be monitoring their survival over the summer months.

🌍 We are hopeful that the seagrass roots will grow into the BESE-Elements during the seagrass growing season, and eventually establish and expand within the BESE-stabilised sediments. Stay tuned for updates as we track their progress!

is funded by Beach Energy Ltd.

Establishing roots on French Island! 🏝️

Last Friday, our team travelled to French Island, a small yet vital part of Western Port in Victoria, Australia. We teamed up with the Western Port Biosphere Foundation to host a hands-on citizen science day, planting mangrove seedlings into biodegradable structures as part of our restoration trials 🌱

The site of our focus has faced significant mangrove losses, likely due to agricultural practices and potential harvesting in the 1960’s. Over the past 30-40 years, the mangroves have not been able to recover naturally. To help restore this site, we were joined by participants from Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Western Port Seagrass Partnership, Parks Victoria, landowners, restoration practitioners and passionate locals keen to give the mangroves a helping hand.

The day was filled with inspiring conversations about mangrove restoration efforts past, present, and future on French Island and throughout Western Port Bay – showcasing a shared commitment and passion to protect these vital ecosystems.

Together, we planted 240 mangrove seedlings into biodegradable structures and measured key site characteristics. We look forward to seeing how these mangrove seedlings survive, thrive and provide coastal protection and the many benefits of healthy in the area 🌊

A special thank you to Josh West from Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation for a moving Welcome to Country ceremony, and to Cindy Devonport and Stephen Brend from the Western Port Biosphere Foundation for your unwavering energy and dedication in making this day possible!

Until next time, French Island! 🏝️

is funded by Beach Energy Ltd.

Just landed from the International Marine Conservation Congress ( ) in South Africa, Phebe Fidge offers some reflections on the conference theme, outlining key lessons on how to “Make Marine Science Matter”.

Read the full article here - www.bluecarbonlab.org/making-marine-science-matter/

🎋 It’s time to bamboo-st our mangrove restoration efforts!

♻️ Biodegradable structures for restoration come in many shapes and sizes. Last year, the team were introduced to innovative bamboo devices designed for restoration. Seagrass Technologies Pty Ltd, owned by Stuart Thompson, highlighted their easy-to-install design, which resembles natural tussocks.

🌱 Similar to the BESE-Elements, these devices are engineered to stabilise sediment, slow water movement, and naturally capture mangrove seeds, helping to support crucial early phases of growth.

💡 Eager to explore their potential, we are trialling an area of 336 of these bamboo devices at a site where we are struggling to retain Avicennia marina mangrove seeds. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers for their hard work!

🌿 In we aim to add to the restoration toolbox by exploring new ways biodegradable structures can enhance restoration.

Curious to learn more about these bamboo devices? Check them out at mangroves.au.

is funded by Beach Energy Ltd.

🌿 Does nutrient pollution impact seagrass meadows’ ability to store carbon?

🌊 Recent studies reveal that nutrient enrichment in coastal environments can alter seagrass chemistry, reducing its potential to sequester .

🔬 Research by Luo et al. reveals nutrient enrichment reduces the amount of recalcitrant carbon produced by seagrass plants. Building on this, a new study by Liu et al. found that elevated nutrient levels change seagrass litter chemistry, accelerating the decay of recalcitrant carbon.

📉 Together, these findings indicate that not only reduces the production of recalcitrant carbon in seagrass meadows, but also speeds up its decomposition, reducing long-term carbon storage.

🌍 With seagrass meadows being vital global , these findings highlight how nutrient pollution can compromise carbon sequestration in . Effective management of nutrient inputs is key to protect and preserve the long-term carbon storage of these vital ecosystems.

🔗 Explore the research:

Liu et al. 2024: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1jmZQB8cd0V5C
Luo et al. 2024: https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/lno.12490?casa_token=Woydo51xgoUAAAAA%3A2hIwwLIxdi4FUXoz8HGZYBToZq4SkpHb1yRLu9kuvoU0IyNwsKDsJdezYZcTnVu8hyiIHjdChGnEMw

🌊🏠 Attention Australian coastal landholders - have you participated in our nation-wide landholder survey on restoration?

If you haven’t had the chance yet, our survey is still open!

Help us understand your challenges and concerns to restore coastal wetlands. Your insights will be used to inform future restoration practices and policy measures (e.g., funding or incentive-schemes) to support landholder engagement in wetland restoration projects.

🔗 Take the survey: www.deakin.edu.au/bluecarbonlab-landholder-survey
🔍 Learn more in our blog: www.bluecarbonlab.org/landholdersurvey/

𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐧? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?

In the program, we’re monitoring coastal wetlands for and exploring practices through industry-generated biomass waste production. This includes testing the degradability of apple- and seaweed-based cellulose, as well as its potential for 3D printing or mould casting.

If you want to learn more about the wonders of waste, our latest blog explores how is being transformed into novel habitats, helping to restore vital coastal habitats. 🌊
➡️ https://bit.ly/4egL4XV

is funded by Energy Ltd.

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦!

Ivona Buljat is a botanist and environmental scientist with a passion for conservation, restoration and environmental education. Throughout her career, Ivona has worked in natural resource management and environmental education, providing conservation and restoration efforts in the grassland and saltmarsh ecosystems of Western Melbourne. Ivona joins the growing team of researchers, where she will bring her knowledge in conservation and coastal restoration as part of the program 🌱🌊

Welcome Ivona! Learn more about her work at https://lnkd.in/gekPfP9p

🌍🔬 Exciting News! Our latest study reveals strategies to cut methane emissions from farm dams and improve water quality.

Led by Dr Omosalewa Odebiri, we found that fencing off farm dams reduces methane emissions by over 70% but also improves water quality with lower nitrogen-phosphorous levels and improved dissolved oxygen.

Using our innovative mobile sensors called ‘Pondi’, we monitored greenhouse gases continuously, providing insights into seasonal impacts. This method offers a scalable solution to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from one of the overlooked sources—farm dams.

💡📊Simple management changes like fencing can make farm dams sustainable, informing global strategies and local practices to combat climate change.

👩‍🔬🌾Our study highlights the importance of including farm dams in national carbon accounting and offers actionable strategies for environmental and economic benefits.

Paper: (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175420)



Deakin University - Science and Technology Deakin Research