Fieldwork notes from our Solent planting
Between the 17th and 23rd March 2026, members of the Project Seagrass team were on the Isle of Wight carrying out active restoration as part of the The Solent Seascape Project, the first project of its kind in the UK to initiate seascape-scale restoration. As part of The Solent Seascape Project, Project Seagrass is working to restore 3.5 hectares of seagrass in the Solent. During this spring’s planting efforts, the team planted 175,416 seagrass seeds using the Dispenser Injection Seeding (DIS) method and 1,154 seagrass transplants from our Seagrass Nursery, planting across an area of 0.77 hectares. Find out more about the activity that took place: Fragment Walk The March fieldwork efforts commenced with a Fragment Walk at Priory Bay. Fragment Walks are a community-based seagrass restoration initiative and form one of the approaches to active restoration that Project Seagrass is undertaking on the Isle of Wight as part of The Solent Seascape Project. Seagrass meadows are sensitive habitats which can be easily uprooted. As a result of storms or other disturbances, fragments of seagrass (individual seagrass plants with the rhizome or reproductive root and node system still intact) can become dislodged, uprooted, and washed up onto beaches. Fragment Walks involve collecting and re-planting these dislodged seagrass fragments, giving them another chance to thrive. During March’s Fragment Walk, the team were joined by 11 volunteers. Together, the group walked along the beach from St Helens to Priory Bay collecting over 100 dislodged seagrass fragments which were then re-planted in a dedicated seagrass community garden at Priory Bay. Over 100 seagrass fragments were collected at Priory Bay as part of March’s Fragment Walk. These were re-planted in a Community Garden at Priory Bay. 11 volunteers supported the activity, supporting active restoration on the Island. Planting Preparation Workshop One of the methods used for active seagrass restoration on the Isle of Wight is planting seagrass transplants. This year’s Planting Preparation Workshop took place at Sea View Yacht Club where 17 volunteers helped the team to prepare 1,154 transplants from the Project Seagrass Seagrass Nursery for planting out into the field. The preparation process for the transplants involves carefully attaching bamboo pins to seagrass rhizomes which provides them with increased stability when they are planted out into the field. March’s Planting Preparation Workshop took place at Seaview Yacht Club Seagrass transplants from the Project Seagrass Seagrass Nursery are prepared for planting out into the field by attaching bamboo pins to the rhizome Seagrass Planting Project Seagrass’ planting as part of The Solent Seascape Project is located at two Isle of Wight sites: Priory Bay and Thorness. Alongside the 1,154 seagrass transplants from the Project Seagrass Seagrass Nursery, the team planted 175,416 seagrass seeds across the sites using the Dispenser Injection Seeding (DIS) method, a method developed by The Fieldwork Company. This year’s seed planting incorporated experimental work to compare the germination success of subtidal and intertidal seed populations collected from Isle of Wight seagrass meadows in Yarmouth, Ryde, and Bembridge as part of last summer’s seagrass seed collections. Baseline measurements were taken at our experimental plots including drone images, pH, salinity, and sediment samples. This provenance experiment will help to inform where seeds are collected from for future restoration activity. Over the course of the fieldwork trip the team planting across an area of 0.77 hectares, an important step in the restoration of the Solent’s important seagrass habitats. Project Seagrass Nursery Manager Emily Yates plants seagrass at Thorness using the DIS method Project Seagrass Operations Lead Eve Uncles plants seagrass transplants from the Seagrass Nursery out into the field at Thorness
Catalina Island study highlights open-coast seagrass restoration success
New research led by scientists at University of California’s San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography is shining a spotlight on one of the ocean’s most overlooked habitats: seagrass. Led by Scripps Oceanography Ph.D. candidate Rilee Sanders, the study documented the first successful restoration of open-coast seagrass (common eelgrass). The findings offer promising insight into the feasibility of restoring high-value coastal habitats in the future. The work is published in the journal Estuaries and Coasts. Seagrasses act as ecosystem engineers, creating complex underwater habitats that support life along the coast. Around the world, these habitats are increasingly threatened by climate change and human impacts like coastal development, invasive species and overfishing. While most West Coast seagrass research has focused on protected bays and estuaries, this study focused on open-coast areas off Catalina Island. Drawing on nearly a decade’s worth of surveys, the team examined everything from seagrass structure to fish communities and ocean conditions to identify where restoration might succeed. Juvenile señorita (Oxyjulis californica) utilize the protective canopy of the open-coast seagrass restoration site at Button Shell, Catalina Island. Credit Adam ObazaPaua Marine Research Group Two bat rays (Myliobatis californica) soaring over an open-coast eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed on Catalina Island. Credit Adam ObazaPaua Marine Research Group The results were encouraging, as the researchers completed the first transplant of open-coast common eelgrass (also known as Zostera marina). Within a year, the restored site began functioning like a natural meadow, supporting fish communities and ecosystem structure, and by year two, it was even healthier and more biodiverse than natural reference meadows. “Seagrasses are kind of an unsung hero of nearshore ocean habitats,” said Sanders. “They provide nursery habitat for young fish, store carbon in sediments and support immense biodiversity in places that might otherwise be sandy seafloor. Being able to quickly restore that structure and function on the open coast is really exciting.” The findings suggest that open-coast environments could become a valuable new tool for seagrass restoration and conservation in California, especially as coastal development and climate change reduce the available suitable habitat in bays and estuaries. And sometimes restoration has surprising benefits. During monitoring, researchers even captured images of an endangered sea turtle visiting the restored meadow. In short: if we plant seagrass, the ecosystem may follow. More information: This article is republished from PHYS.ORG and provided by the University of California – San Diego. Rilee D. Sanders et al, Open-Coast Eelgrass (Zostera marina) Transplant Catalyzes Rapid Mirroring of Structure and Function of Extant Eelgrasses, Estuaries and Coasts (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s12237-025-01609-x