Seagrass is being mass-planted off the Welsh coast to restore the endangered species, which is so efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide that it does so faster than trees – up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. It also helps to protect coastlines from erosion, provides a habitat for many types of fish (supporting up to 20% of fisheries) and cleans the ocean by absorbing pollutants and producing oxygen.
The project off Pembrokeshire is being led by the World Wildlife Fund, with Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University, in order to reverse the decline of local seagrass – which lives in shallower coastal waters – caused by coastal development and pollution. Nearly five acres under the sea at Dale Bay has been given over to the planting of a million seeds, and if successful it is hoped to be replicated at other coastal sites around the UK that have lost their seagrass meadows.
The planting by Project Seagrass is the culmination of research launched three years previously which saw marine conservationists produce an app to encourage the public to monitor underwater seagrass meadows, which have declined by 90% in the past 100 years. SeagrassSpotter is still available for both Android and iPhone.
further reading…
Seagrass is being mass-planted off the Welsh coast to restore the endangered species, which is so efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide that it does so faster than trees – up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. It also helps to protect coastlines from erosion, provides a habitat for many types of fish (supporting up to 20% of fisheries) and cleans the ocean by absorbing pollutants and producing oxygen.
The project off Pembrokeshire is being led by the World Wildlife Fund, with Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University, in order to reverse the decline of local seagrass – which lives in shallower coastal waters – caused by coastal development and pollution. Nearly five acres under the sea at Dale Bay has been given over to the planting of a million seeds, and if successful it is hoped to be replicated at other coastal sites around the UK that have lost their seagrass meadows.
The planting by Project Seagrass is the culmination of research launched three years previously which saw marine conservationists produce an app to encourage the public to monitor underwater seagrass meadows, which have declined by 90% in the past 100 years. SeagrassSpotter is still available for both Android and iPhone.