The Ocean Conservation Trust has launched a signature project called Blue Meadows on World Oceans Day, which promises a holistic approach to seagrass conservation, regeneration and restoration in the UK.
Seagrasses are 35 times more efficient at sequestering carbon than tropical rainforests and store 10% of ocean carbon despite covering only 0.2% of the ocean floor. They also provide nurseries for many important commercial fish species.
Blue Meadows is designed to let recreational and commercial vessels know where seagrasses exist and work with them to minimize disturbance to grasses, allowing them to regenerate and thrive.
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Mark Parry, development officer at the Marine Conservation Trust, said: “This vital work will protect and restore seagrass, one of the most valuable and biodiverse habitats on Earth, delivering multiple benefits to the environment. .”
As much as 90 percent of Zostera marina seagrass beds have disappeared since the 1930s, and despite the importance of these habitats, they are still declining.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated in 2014 that global seagrass is still declining at a rate of 7% per year. This estimate makes it the fastest-disappearing habitat on Earth.
In the UK alone, around 500 hectares of seagrass beds are lost each year, mainly due to human activity.
Mr Perry added: “For many boaters, it’s not clear where the seagrass meadows are, so they don’t know the damage caused by dropping anchors or fishing.
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“That’s why the main objective of the Marine Conservation Trust is to protect existing seagrass meadows and allow them to regenerate. Over the next five years, we are aiming to protect 10% of the UK’s seagrass, about 700 hectares.”
Falmouth has started a pilot, placing buoys in three key areas to protect more than 20 hectares of seagrass meadows, the equivalent of 20 football fields.
Local vessel user engagement has also begun and baseline biodiversity measurements have been carried out with the support of e-DNA analysis experts.
A second project site is already lined up in Torbay, with plans to protect an additional 50 hectares. This is supported by a number of commercial and delivery partners.
The Marine Conservation Trust is working to perfect a holistic process for large-scale seagrass restoration, as well as protecting and allowing existing seagrass meadows to regenerate.
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A purpose built 400 sqm facility in Devon, dedicated to plant aquaculture, is funded by the Green Restoration Challenge Fund. A team of experts is working on different restoration techniques. This is the largest seagrass nursery in the UK.
Roger Maslin, chief executive of the Ocean Conservation Trust, said: “This is an important step forward for our environmental work at the Trust and the most ambitious seagrass project in the UK to date.
“Blue Meadows is our holistic approach to seagrass conservation, regeneration and restoration, which is critical to ensuring the healthy future of this critically important species.
“We need conservation to support vital recovery efforts, which is why we will be working with seaport authorities, business and our scientific partners at Imperial, Keele and Plymouth to accelerate conservation while developing scalable, Cost-effective technology to restore what we’ve lost.”
Seagrass meadows provide nurseries for commercially important fish and are biodiversity hotspots, with one hectare of seagrass providing refuge for up to 80,000 fish and 100 million small invertebrates, which are also home to seahorses and jellyfish, among others Home to rare and endangered species.
Where seagrasses are present, they reduce the effects of coastal erosion by stabilizing seafloor sediments and combat climate change by absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon. They absorb carbon 35 times more efficiently than tropical rainforests in the same area.
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Brendan Montague is the editor ecologist. This article is based on a press release from the Marine Conservation Trust.Learn more about this exciting project and help protect meadows visit www.bluemeadows.org.
