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.
As our Fragment Walks from the 2025/26 season come to an end Project Seagrass Intern Anya Lamparelli reflects on this year’s efforts. A seagrass fragment is a precious and vulnerable thing. Torn free by winter storms and strong swells these delicate shoots with intricate root systems still attached wash ashore
A new study of the British Isles’ coastal ecosystems has revealed that nitrogen enrichment is significantly reducing the abundance and variety of marine life. The research, published by scientists at Swansea University and the charity Project Seagrass, warns that increasing nutrient flows are overriding local habitat conditions to restructure and
Residents and visitors to the Isle of Wight can now access information about the Island’s important seagrass habitats thanks to new signage installed through support from Seacology. The signage has been installed by Project Seagrass as part of ongoing efforts to protect and restore seagrass ecosystems within the Solent. The signs
Hannah Harrero and Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner, geographers from Florida, comment on differing methods of monitoring the resilience of seagrass meadows in Florida’s ‘Mosquito Lagoon’, following a number of extreme weather events. Florida’s Indian River Lagoon has been an ecosystem in decline going back to 2011, when harmful algal blooms led to a severe decline in
Heidi McIlvenny, PhD researcher from Queen’s University Belfast, comments on seagrass meadows in Northern Ireland and how seagrass meadows can recover but only if we tackle the pollution at its source. I spent last summer wading through seagrass meadows across Northern Ireland, from the sheltered waters of Strangford Lough to
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
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
Nursery intern Iestyn Comey details how fishing in seagrass meadows can be great to improve mental health and are vital nursery grounds for key fisheries species. Fishing is a hard thing to explain to someone who has never done it. There is no better feeling than the moment the line
Now seeking investment, the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund will unite funders, businesses, and individuals committed to securing a future for seagrass. With an ambitious target of £50 million, the Fund will support people-centred seagrass conservation for a healthier ocean and a fairer future. Project Seagrass has launched the Global Seagrass
The wellbeing benefits of nature are often linked to forests or habitats that support diverse pollinators. Spending time in green spaces reduces stress and anxiety, for example. By contrast, the benefits of the ocean are more commonly associated with fishing, exciting creatures such as whales and dolphins, or adventure watersports, rather than
New research provides one of the first documented cases of a marine heatwave undermining restoration efforts at a site in Northern Europe. Forecasting extreme weather events will be essential to the success of future marine restoration efforts and Ocean recovery. A marine heatwave has undermined the success of
The first large-scale analysis of its kind estimates that at least 18 million people living in poverty across the Indo-Pacific fish in seagrass meadows. Around 6.5 million may depend entirely on these overlooked habitats for fishing and subsistence. Researchers warn that seagrass decline could deepen hunger, economic insecurity, and inequality
Not all of Indonesia’s seagrass meadows are faring alike. A study has revealed substantial spatial differences in the condition of 21 seagrass meadows across central and eastern Indonesia, providing a clearer picture of where ecosystems are thriving (hotspots), under stress (coldspots) or undergoing ecological change (outliers). But why does this
Project Seagrass has been granted Independent Research Organisation status. This is an important milestone for Project Seagrass, but more importantly, it is a milestone for seagrass science. Since 2013, Project Seagrass has worked tirelessly to build a different kind of conservation organisation. One that is rooted in science, grounded in
A new collaborative research project between Murdoch University and Walailak University (WU) aims to restore seagrass meadows in Thailand using 3D-printed pods made from bioplastics. The seagrass meadows around Koh Lidi, a pair of islands inside Mu Ko Phetra National Park in Satun Province, are a nursery for shrimp, crabs,
Seagrasses are among the most important foundation species in coastal ecosystems, providing habitat for marine life, stabilising sediments, and helping improve water quality. Yet nearly 20% of the world’s historic seagrass cover has been lost, and efforts to restore these vital underwater meadows often face significant challenges. In Florida’s Indian
