Keeping you up to date with Project Seagrass news and views with a mixture of field notes and commentary on seagrass and marine conservation topics.
Seagrass meadows provide a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits to people and planet. They provide habitat, food, and shelter to thousands of species of fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Through their diverse use as fishing grounds, they support the creation of jobs and provide access to food sources
Researchers predict that climate change will drive a substantial redistribution of brown seaweeds and seagrasses at the global scale. The projected changes are alarming due to the fundamental role of seaweeds and seagrasses in coastal ecosystems, and provide evidence of the pervasive impacts of climate change on marine life. In
Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Orkney seagrass trip Next month the seagrass team will be departing for their annual seed collection trip in Orkney. Following
Using a novel genetic clock, a team of researchers from Kiel, London, Oldenburg, and Davis, California, has determined the age of a large marine plant clone for the first time. This seagrass clone from the Baltic Sea dates back to the migration period 1,400 years ago. The newly developed clock
This Pride Month we’re celebrating our work with Pride Cymru. Thanks to support from Catalyst Cymru, Pride Cymru volunteers supported fieldwork to plant seagrass seeds as part of our programme of restoration work in North Wales. The planting took place earlier this year in Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli. An introduction
Between the 17th and 21st June 2024, over 500 scientists, conservation professionals, and managers will converge in Naples, Italy for the 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15). It will be two years since the last meeting in Annapolis, USA. The theme of ISBW15 is “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, centred around
The theme of the 2024 World Ocean Day is catalyzing action for our ocean and climate. This recognises the fact that the health of the marine environment, including our globally declining seagrass meadows, requires significantly stronger local, national, and international action from both government and corporate leaders. In this article
This year’s World Environment Day campaign focuses on land restoration, under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.” Loss and degradation of coastal marine ecosystems, compromise the delivery of important ecosystem services to human society. Yet turning the tide on these losses and working towards a net gain
Read our Project Leads’ fieldwork notes from May: Solent Fieldwork (Anouska Mendzil, Solent Lead) Solent fieldwork update: Day 1 Myself and Manning arrived to the Isle of Wight around 14:00 and met Becky. We had an afternoon of preparation including labelling pins and mini-buoys, sorting kit, sorting data forms and
Thanks to the support of local volunteers and landowners Stena Line, 50,000 seagrass seeds were planted last month at sites near Holyhead, covering an area of 150 m2. The planting followed on from a successful stakeholder engagement session held at Holyhead Sailing Club in March 2024, which was attended by
Seagrasses are flowering plants that thrive in marine environments and form extensive meadows along the tropical Queensland coast. New James Cook University research shows the seagrass meadows of Trinity Inlet in Cairns Harbor have recovered after severe cyclones and flooding nearly wiped them out—but with a new mix of fish
Momentum builds around the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund as growing public interest and rising urgency position investment in seagrass conservation as one of the decade’s most important solutions for our planet. Investment will facilitate a step-change in global seagrass conservation via new fund designed to put resources directly into
Each year, Project Seagrass welcomes a fresh cohort of students to work with the organisation as part of their placement year. Facilitating training opportunities has been an important part of our approach for over a decade. Since Project Seagrass’ beginnings, 27 students have worked and learnt alongside the team as
Our Ocean is changing and conservation efforts need to keep up. This week, governments, scientists and conservation organisations are gathering in Yerevan, Armenia, for COP17, the United Nations Biodiversity Conference. Four years after the world agreed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, we’re now taking stock on progress.
Project Seagrass is celebrating a significant milestone in the development of their Seagrass Nursery facilities in West Wales following the opening of a new multi-span polytunnel. Housing 12 new ponds, the recent expansion has tripled the sites’ previous capacity for polytunnel-based seagrass propagation, strengthening the Nursery’s pivotal role in scaling
Between 2022 and 2025, the Restoration Forth project brought together charities, local community groups, and scientists, united by the ambitious goal of restoring vital marine habitats within the Firth of Forth. Project managed by WWF UK, and delivered in partnership between Project Seagrass, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, The Ecology
