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.
Edinburgh Science Festival Bubbles and enthusiasm took over for Project Seagrass as we set up our stall at Edinburgh International Science Festival last week. The festival has taken over the city for two weeks every year since 1989, and was the world’s first public celebration of science, definitely something that we’re
Over ONE MILLION participants have had a #ReasonToRun since the first London Marathon in 1981. The training and sacrifices involved with running a marathon are enormous, not least the amount of time it takes just to put the miles in day in day out, and the weekends that are geared all around
I was recently ‘nudged’ to do something by a fellow seagrass enthusiast who shall remain nameless for the time being! I must admit that I have been distracted by life and other ‘things’ for several months and desperately needed that ‘nudge’ to get going again. So, with March being Seagrass Awareness
It’s only… SEAGRASS AWARENESS MONTH! ‘Seagrass Awareness Month’ has been designated as March ever since I started learning about these underappreciated ecosystems 6 years ago. However, the state-wide habitat engagement initiative appears to have been limited so far to just Florida in the USA. Why haven’t we made more of
Hello again folks, So, we’re less than 8 weeks out from the London Marathon (23rd April) and the training is going well. My longest distance so far is 17 miles and we’ve got an 18-mile run in the diary for this weekend. The mornings are beginning to get lighter earlier (sunrise was
For nearly 10 years I have been teaching, writing, tweeting, speaking, blogging, presenting and workshopping pretty much around the clock, in my role as a science teacher, a diving instructor, and now presently as a Science Communicator here at Project Seagrass. I’ve learnt to use all the communication tools I
Hello! My name is Sarah Jane Pope and this year I am running the London, Edinburgh and Stockholm marathons this year to raise money for Project Seagrass. I’ll get straight to the point… You can sponsor me here! http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SJPopester I decided to take up this challenge because I wanted to
There’s an odd bunch of people with a strange sounding passion – a passion for seagrass. You’d think that anything with grass in its name might be boring, especially when compared to ecosystems like tropical rainforests, filled with birds of paradise or the vast savannas of Africa filled with elephants
In a previously life I was a Secondary School Science Teacher, and I was privileged to work at a fantastic school (alongside some of the most innovative and enthusiastic teachers the UK has to offer). I know these teachers took their pedagogy seriously, and I was reminded of this dedication when I
With every year that passes we’re given a unique opportunity to look back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. I’ll be honest, every year since our inception in 2013 we’ve been immensely shocked at just how much we’ve achieved given that we’re on a shoestring budget. 2016 was certainly no
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
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
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
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
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
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
