![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/CopyofP2200560_89706.jpg\")
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At the heart of the OMER Initiative is EMAC’s vision for Sea Country – a vision grounded in deep cultural ties and a responsibility to care for Country that spans generations.<\/p>\n
“Eastern Maar’s connection to Sea Country is deep and enduring,” EMAC Sea Country Manager Mandy Watson said.<\/p>\n
“We’re proud to be part of this work, it’s part of the EMAC vision to ensure Eastern Maar Sea Country assertions are central to decision-making.”<\/p>\n
Indigenous knowledge of marine ecosystems in the region has long been under-documented, despite coastal clan groups such as the Peek Whurrong maintaining strong cultural relationships with coastal ecosystems for millennia.<\/p>\n
The OMER initiative supports the development of EMAC’s Sea Country Plan and builds capacity through training Eastern Maar Sea Country Guardians in ecological monitoring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These Guardians contribute cultural insight to marine surveys while gaining experience in scientific methods, strengthening Eastern Maar’s leadership and stewardship across the coast.<\/p>\n The habitats under study – such as sandy beaches, seagrass beds and subtidal reefs – lack co-ordinated monitoring, despite their ecological and cultural importance.<\/p>\n “Without baseline data, it’s nearly impossible to track environmental change or manage climate and human impacts effectively,” OMER program manager at the Conservation Ecology Centre Dr Kay Weltz said.<\/p>\n “Thousands visit the Great Ocean Road and Great Ocean Walk each summer, yet we lack measures to understand the effects on marine ecosystems.<\/p>\n “At the same time, climate-driven threats like warming seas, rising sea levels and increasing extreme weather events are already impacting these environments.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/Copyofgiant_kelp_97935.jpg\")