The seagrass detectives of Bell Bay
Eleven-year-old Maya noticed something was wrong with her local beach at Bell Bay before any adult did: the thick green seagrass meadow she used to swim over had turned to bare, cloudy sand.
She spent her school holidays interviewing three marine biologists to find out why. All three pointed to the same culprit: loose sedimentsedimenttiny bits of sand, mud or rock that settle at the bottom of water washing down from a building site upstream, which blocks the sunlight the seagrass needs to grow.
"Seagrass meadows are nurseries for baby fish and crabs," one biologist told her. "Lose the meadow, and you lose the nursery."
The town has since agreed to fit sediment barriers at the building site, and Maya's report is credited with getting the issue onto the local council's agenda in the first place.
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