NEWS

NEWS

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.

Zostera marina seagrass grows beneath the surface in Priory Bay, Isle of Wight. Above the surface, the sky is blue with white clouds. A logo with the words Seagrass Safe Silor and an image of a boat if overlain.

Protecting seagrass in Priory Bay

Priory Bay in the Isle of Wight supports important seagrass meadows that provide a home for marine life as well as supporting healthy coastlines. The bay is also of great value for boating and recreation, and a popular summer anchorage. This project is exploring ways to protect the seagrass in

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The Project Seagrass Logo is overlayed over a photo of seagrass

Embracing change: Introducing our refreshed Project Seagrass logo

In this blog, our Chief Conservation Officer, Dr Benjamin Jones, shares the thinking behind the decision to refresh the Project Seagrass logo and wider brand identity, and explains why visibility matters so much for seagrass conservation. Honouring our roots, looking to the future Back in 2013, we founded Project Seagrass

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A shoal of parrotfish swim through a seagrass meadow

Seagrass meadows could help nourish millions, new study finds

New research finds that seagrass meadows support fish that can be more valuable for human nutrition than fish found on coral reefs   Seagrass meadows play a majorly overlooked role in providing nutrition for coastal communities, a new study published in Cell Reports Sustainability has uncovered. The study, led by

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Zostera marine seagrass meadow Porthdinllaen North Wales.

London Climate Action Week: Are we forgetting that we are nature?

Project Seagrass CEO and Co-Founder, Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth reflects on London Climate Action Week: I left London Climate Action Week inspired, challenged, and, at times, deeply concerned. Over the course of the week I joined conversations spanning nature finance, climate resilience, biodiversity, restoration, and global leadership. The speakers were exceptional.

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SeagrassTools Logo

Introducing SeagrassTools: strengthening the link between data and decision-making

July marks the launch of SeagrassTools, a single unified suite for seagrass science, conservation, and management which will enable users to collect, download, analyse, and act on seagrass data more effectively than ever before.  The new digital suite, which integrates citizen science, ecological data, restoration experiments, and spatial analytics, will support evidence-based decision-making

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A seagrass meadow in Cardiff.

Previously undocumented seagrass meadow found in Cardiff’s Severn Estuary

Field discovery reveals a healthy and apparently expanding seagrass meadow in one of the UK’s most challenging estuarine environments  Marine conservation organisation Project Seagrass has found a previously undocumented intertidal seagrass meadow in Cardiff, within the Severn Estuary. The newly discovered meadow, which was found by Project Seagrass’ Chief Conservation Officer Dr Benjamin Jones, does

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Volunteers from Moray Ocean Community and partners at the Inverness Royal Academy Citizen Science day

Interview with Moray Ocean Community

We spoke to Moray Ocean Community about their volunteering in the Moray Firth area and how they integrate the SeagrassSpotter app into their activities. Read the full interview below: Can you tell us about Moray Ocean Community and how it started? Moray Ocean Community started to come together over two

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Europe

Seagrass planting trials underway in Cardiff

Scientists from the marine conservation charity Project Seagrass are undertaking seagrass planting experiments along the South & West Wales coastline, including a new planting site in Butetown along Cardiff’s Foreshore.  Cardiff’s Foreshore is a popular place for sea-angling for species such as cod, which uses seagrass meadows as a nursery

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A screenshot of the research paper "Seagrass meadows globally as a coupled social–ecological system: Implications for human wellbeing" overlain on an image of seagrass in North Wales
new science

Project Seagrass Journal Club: October 2024

We have just launched a journal club for the Project Seagrass team. These monthly meetups work much like a book club, members of the team each suggest a relevant scientific paper, vote on their favourite, then read the winning paper prior to meeting. During the journal club we critically discuss

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A screenshot of the research paper "New directions for Indigenous and local knowledge research and application in fisheries science: Lessons from a systematic review" overlain on an image of seagrass in North Wales
new science

Indigenous and Local Knowledge in Fisheries Science

Seagrass meadows play a critical role in keeping our oceans healthy and stocked with food, providing valuable nursery habitat to over 1/5th of the world’s largest 25 fisheries. Seagrass meadows are also important to small-scale fisheries, particularly as a place to find and collect a reliable source of food with some

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Coastal Communities Network Gathering 2024

Earlier this month Project Seagrass’ Senior Conservation Officer Katy Waring attended the yearly gathering for coastal communities from the Coastal Communities Network  facilitated by Fauna and Flora International. The event was held on the island of Millport at their field studies centre.   The 3-day event was inspiring; groups from around

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From left to right: View of the STARESO harbor entrance with Posidonia meadow islands and an accumulation of dead leaves. Close-up of litter accumulation. Experimental benthic incubation device ('bell') installed on accumulations of Posidonia dead leaves (10 m deep). Credit: G.Lepoint & W. Champenois / ULiège
new science

Dead leaves in sea break down into a compost that produces oxygen

Researchers from the University of Liège (BE) studied the fate of the material produced by Posidonia seagrass meadows. This study, carried out in the Mediterranean Sea at STARESO, shows that the dead leaves of what is commonly known as Neptune grass accumulate in shallow areas, where they break down like

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