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.

Seagrass and coral with fish swimming

Seagrass meadows bounce back with new fish communities

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

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Aerial of seagrass meadow in Myeik Archipelago, Myanmar

“Global Seagrass Challenge Fund set to transform seagrass conservation world wide” says world’s leading seagrass conservation organisation Project Seagrass

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

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Seagrass and mangrove grow next to each other

COP17: Beyond promises, towards a future for seagrass

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. 

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Volunteers in bright flourescent vests gather seeds in the shallow waters at Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Careers in Conservation: Digital Content Creator

The Careers in Conservation: Below the Surface series takes a deep dive into the variety of job roles available within the conservation sector. In this article, Project Seagrass Digital Content Creator Tim Horton shares his experiences and the route he took to a career in conservation. Job Description and Skills

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A large patch of seagrass is growing in Dale Bay.

Fishers’ local knowledge can help identify the best locations for seagrass restoration, new research finds

New study shows coastal users can provide valuable insights that strengthen restoration planning and long-term project success Fishers and anglers possess valuable local knowledge that can help identify suitable locations for seagrass restoration, new research published by Project Seagrass shows. The study, conducted along the South Wales coastline, found that

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Seagrass meadow with sunlight shining through the water

Careers in Conservation: Chief Executive Officer

The Careers in Conservation: Below the Surface series takes a deep dive into the variety of job roles available within the conservation sector. In this article, Project Seagrass CEO Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth shares her experiences and the route she took to a career in conservation. What does it take to

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Dugong feeding on seagrass, Great Fringing Reef, Red Sea Credit Anett Szaszi Ocean Image Bank

World Ocean Day 2024 – catalysing action for seagrass

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

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Nusi, a member of FORKANI, tends to trees in a nursery.

Restoring the land to restore the sea

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

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A group of Project Seagrass staff and volunteers are gathered on a beach in North Wales as part of our May fieldwork. Our North Wales project lead is kneeling by a quadrat providing a demonstration of how to monitor seagrass.

Fieldwork Notes from our May fieldwork

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

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Volunteers supporting seagrass restoration work in Holyhead North Wales. Volunteers are crouching on the ground around quadrats monitoring seagrass.
Europe

North Wales seagrass restoration in Holyhead Bay

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

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An image of a seagrass habitat
new science

Seagrass meadows expanding near inhabited islands in Maldives

Swimming through the crystal clear waters of the Maldives, a nation renowned for its marine life, it could be easy to forget that these delicate ecosystems stand on the frontline of climate change and that seagrass habitats are in crisis globally. Now, my research, which combined hundreds of hours of fieldwork with thousands of satellite

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new science

Making seagrass restoration more resistant to rising temperatures

New research demonstrates that seagrass habitat restoration can be enhanced by including other grasses in addition to the declining or lost species and – ultimately – that restoration efforts must proactively select species that can withstand current and intensifying stressors driven by human activities and climate change. Rising global temperatures

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