A change to the way carbon credits are counted for coastal environments means farmers on traditionally "unusable" properties are now considering large-scale restoration projects.
In January, the federal government released its first method for calculating the amount carbon that could be sequestered when tidal zones were returned to their natural state.
For Hollands Landing grazier Anthony Simpson, that changed the value of his paddocks on the Gippsland Lakes which have increasingly become saturated by tidal saltwater after a flood in 2007.
"This salt-marsh wetland is about 200 hectares of pretty much unusable farmland," Mr Simpson said.
A team of researchers from Deakin University's Blue Carbon Lab visited his Gippsland property last week to take baseline measurements of the carbon stored in the marshes on his property.
The blue carbon calculator allowed landholders to claim carbon credits on the additional carbon stored as a result of restoration projects, rather than carbon already stored.
"There's never going to be a huge grazing profit from this sort of area," Mr Simpson said.
To encourage uptake of blue carbon, the commonwealth planned to fund the restoration costs of four pilot projects, with locations yet to be announced.
Blue carbon up to 40x more storage
Researchers have said the benefits of blue carbon went beyond making use of traditionally unproductive agricultural land.
The Blue Carbon Lab's Dr Melissa Wartman said per square metre coastal wetlands, like those on Mr Simpson's property, were capable of storing far more carbon than forests over a long period of time.
That was because saltwater ecosystems were hostile to the microorganisms that consumed aquatic plants, releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.
"It's also harder to set them on fire," she said.
Dr Wartman wrote her PhD dissertation on the Gippsland Lakes' complex ecosystem, forever altered by the artificial opening at Lakes Entrance.
"Gippsland is one of the few regions where you actually see an increase in saltmarsh," she said.
The Blue Carbon Lab held a workshop with local landholders to explain blue carbon's potential to shape the landscape.
"They're trying to figure out what they can do to stop it [encroachment of saltmarsh], but our role here is to say 'it's not actually the worst thing,'" Dr Wartman said.
Healing Country, together
A group of 10 young Gunaikurnai people joined the researchers on Mr Simpson's property to throw boomerangs, capture bugs and take carbon samples from the soil.
Leader of the Culture Connect group Aunty Sandra Nielson said the Gippsland Lakes were a hive of activity before colonisation.
"They would've been walking this land, living off this land, some of the insects and plants we're finding today would've been staples in their diets," Ms Nielson said.
Her joint project focussed on restoration and education about cultural heritage.
"It's also a way forward for our own children to learn about it, to keep looking after it. We used to have all the elders around teaching us how to look after the land, a lot of them are gone now," she said.
Gunaikurnai teenager Jason Mullett said he appreciated the chance to get his hands dirty while also combatting climate change.
