The region's reefs and seagrass meadows are home to just as much biodiversity as Ningaloo Reef - and deserve the same protection, some of the state's leading marine researchers say.
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Coinciding with National Science Week, two leading marine experts visited the Capes region last week to share their knowledge with Margaret River Primary School students who are taking part in a new marine program, called Waatu Kaatijin or "ocean learning".
As part of a program run by Nature Conservation Margaret River Region and EMA Australia, students work with scientists to become stewards for Australia's first Educational Marine Area (EMA) at Margaret River, where they carry out surveys, identify threats, meet with stakeholders, devise solutions, put them into practice and share the learning with the community.
Dr Renae Hovey and Dr Jane Prince, both senior lecturers in the school of biological sciences at UWA's Oceans Institute, visited the region to host classroom and coastal sessions with the students.
Dr Prince said the Margaret River coastline was part of the Great Southern Reef which "is just as important as places like Ningaloo Reef or the Great Barrier Reef".
"It goes all the way around the bottom of Australia and has incredible diversity and a lot of unique species that occur nowhere else in Australia. It's really important to manage and conserve that environment and keep it as pristine as possible," Dr Prince said.
Dr Hovey said many knew the region was a biodiversity hotspot on land, but she said it was also a hotspot in the ocean and intertidal zone.
"In one photograph there can be hundreds if not thousands of species, particularly a whole range of cryptic species that we might not see until we take a close look at the understory of a kelp forest," she said.
In addition, Dr Hovey said the cooler waters of the Margaret River region were also home to just as many fish and marine species as Ningaloo or the Great Barrier Reef.
"You delve underneath the waves and you can see just as much diversity in our fish; the invertebrates, snails, gastropods and sea slugs are all here too and just as colourful," she said.
"You definitely hear a lot about the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef but my message is that we have our own very special reef right here - it's called the Great Southern Reef and it's more expansive with more species than any of the tropical reef systems in Australia. And it's so much more accessible, right on our doorstep. Get out there, learn about it, take a look and experience it!"
First started in the Marquesas Islands a decade ago, the EMA concept has proven successful, with school children acting as custodians of more than 1000 Educational Marine Areas around the world.
The Prevelly coastline was selected as the first spot in Australia to expand the program and a pilot program is under way with four Year 5 classes from Margaret River Primary School.
Collaborating institutions include UWA, WA Museum, BirdLife WA, Great Southern Reef Foundation, Margaret River coastal Residents Association, Parks and Wildlife Service, Undalup Association Inc., Coastal Connections and Shire of Augusta Margaret River rangers.
Seed funding from the Fogarty Foundation - as well as from the Jock Clough Marine Foundation and Cape Mentelle - has made a pilot program possible. Nature Conservation hopes to attract more funding to roll out the program to all schools in the Capes region.
