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 Centre, Heriot-Watt University, the Marine Conservation Society, the Heart of Newhaven Community, the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh Shoreline, and Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, the project placed participatory, community-led restoration at its heart.
The project aimed to restore 4 hectares of seagrass and 30,000 oysters within the Firth of Forth, with a broader ambition to foster long-term behavioral shifts toward coastal stewardship.
In this blog article, we explore the seagrass restoration efforts that took place as part of the project and how the lessons learned pave the way for future restoration in the region:
Seagrass in the Firth of Forth
Records of seagrass in the Firth of Forth date back to 1863, with the earliest specific record of Zostera marina documented at Burntisland in 1823.
Evidence for long-term seagrass change in the Firth of Forth reveals a history of significant fragmentation and decline. The estuary’s physical and biological landscape has been fundamentally altered as a result of industrial land claims for industry, agriculture and ports, major infrastructure projects, and routine channel dredging. While the full extent of past seagrass presence in the region is unknown, the Forth can be seen to reflect wider UK trends in seagrass loss.
Specimens from the late 1800’s show much longer shoot lengths than those recorded now. As light availability is a strong driver of increasing seagrass shoot length, it is reasonable to expect that the clarity of the waters of the Firth of Forth was previously much higher, supporting more prolific seagrass extent and growth.
The seagrass restoration work led by Project Seagrass as part of Restoration Forth aimed to strengthen the integrity of these depleted populations and expand existing fragmented areas.
Seagrass restoration
Site selection
To maximise the chances of success, restoration efforts were focused on sites where seagrass presence had been confirmed or historically reported.
Sites were identified using habitat suitability modelling combined with expert input from Dr Alastair Lyndon (Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University) and senior scientists from Project Seagrass. Site choice was further refined using historical data, local site surveys, and data submitted through the citizen science app SeagrassSpotter
The following three sites were selected for seagrass restoration efforts as part of the project:
(1) Burntisland in Fife, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth
(2) Drum Sands located in West Lothian, on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth
(3) Tyninghame in East Lothian on the estuary of the River Tyne
It was identified that Burntisland and Tyninghame were best suited for Zostera marina restoration with Drum Sands identified as suitable for Zostera marina restoration, and later for Zostera noltii restoration.
These sites enabled the testing of seeding and planting methods tailored to the dynamic intertidal environment of the Forth.
Seed Collections and transplants
Seagrass seeds for the Zostera marina planting were collected in Orkney in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2024, additional seeds were collected from the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth to investigate germination success across different seed populations. Collections were undertaken by Restoration Forth staff and a small number of trained local volunteers primarily by snorkeling to ensure less disturbance and lower risk of damage to the donor meadows.
Prior to collection, all donor seagrass meadows were surveyed to evaluate overall meadow condition and reproductive capacity.
Over 260,000 seeds were collected over the course of the project.
For the Zostera noltii planting at Drum Sands, transplantation was chosen over seed-based methods due to the constraints surrounding Zostera noltii seed collection as a result of the small seed size and proximity to the sediment. Transplants were harvested from nearby meadows at the site and planted in restoration plots immediately after collection to minimise stress to the plants. This site-specific approach also enabled the team to avoid the secondary introduction of invasive non-native species (INNS) associated with moving seagrass material or sediment between restoration locations.
Zostera marina planting efforts and their outcomes
2023
The first Zostera marina planting trials of the project took place in 2023 where 6,500 seagrass seeds were planted at each of the three identified restoration sites: Burntisland, Drum Sands, and Tyninghame. Seeds were planted by Restoration Forth staff and volunteers using the Dispenser Injection Seeding (DIS) planting method developed by The Fieldwork Company.
These initial trials were designed to investigate the effects that seed density and injection depth had on germination and seedling survival the results of which would guide future planting efforts.
Despite initial positive germination results, the number of shoots diminished over time across all three sites due to site specific challenges.
Seedlings at Burntisland were lost following sediment movement which buried the plots. Environmental data captured on site at Drum Sands suggests that the loss of the initial seedlings could be a result of poor light availability from sediments and nutrients after heavy rainfall.
No seedlings across the three sites survived into the subsequent year. Overall, seedling establishment from the 2023 planting efforts was unsuccessful, and no viable populations were formed in the Firth of Forth.
2024
In March 2024, a revised planting approach was developed following the sediment movement observed across the 2023 experimental plots. To reduce the risk of further plot burial, circular plots were established within existing tidal pools.
100,00 seeds were planted as part of this year’s restoration efforts.
Monitoring took place at all three sites with clear variation in shoot establishment and survival.
At Tyninghame, only plot one had shoots growing in July 2024 with all plants having died by August.
Burntisland was the only site where Zostera marina established from the 2024 plantings with patterns of initial summer growth in 2024, winter loss, and recovery in November 2025.
2025
In March 2025, further planting took place at Drum Sands and Burntisland, with 64,000 seeds planted. Further restoration efforts at Tyninghame were ceased as no germination was recorded from previous planting efforts.
The planting at Burntisland involved an additional small-scale experiment to investigate whether the source location of Zostera marina seeds influenced seedling survivability and restoration success. Plant performance varied among the seed sources, with differences in percent cover, shoot production, and leaf morphology. Seeds from Burntisland produced the highest values overall, including the greatest percent cover and high shoot counts.
Using seeds collected from pristine meadows in Orkney had aimed to leverage the robust and extensive seagrass meadows of the north to jumpstart restoration in the Firth of Forth. However, this move introduced a significant environmental mismatch, seeds were harvested from the crystal-clear, subtidal depths of Orkney and transplanted into the sediment-heavy, low-light intertidal zones of the Forth. The donor seeds collected from Orkney were likely genetically adapted to stable, deep-water conditions, they were potentially ill-adapted to survive the fluctuating temperatures and limited light availability characteristic of the Forth’s muddy shoreline.
Zostera noltii planting efforts and their outcomes
2023
During 2023, 360 Zostera noltii cores were transplanted at Drum Sands.
2024
In May 2024, a further 400 Zostera noltii cores were transplanted at Drum Sands.
2025
No further planting took place in 2025 however further monitoring was undertaken.
Monitoring at the site found that coverage of Zostera noltii increased between each monitoring period, indicating ongoing accumulation over time. Overall, each monitoring period demonstrated a clear upward trajectory in coverage. From the total initial planting there was a 54x increase in area to that originally planted.
In October 2025, a donor hole recovery assessment was additionally conducted to evaluate the extent to which sediment cores removed during 2023 and 2024 transplantations had healed. Of a subsample of 45 donor holes, 28 holes (62%) were fully healed.
Summary
The restoration activities delivered meaningful and encouraging progress towards rebuilding seagrass in the Firth of Forth. Across the programme, a total of 1.65 hectares of seagrass were planted, establishing multiple restoration plots that provided clear evidence of successful establishment under challenging conditions. Although this did not expand to the initially anticipated 4 hectares, and significant unsuccessful plantings occurred, the work demonstrated that seagrass restoration is feasible in this dynamic and challenging environment and that carefully targeted interventions can achieve measurable ecological gains.
Particularly notable was the strong performance of Zostera noltii at Drum Sands that by the end of the project covered an area of 54x its original planted area, demonstrating that largescale intertidal restoration is highly viable in the region. This success provides a practical and scalable pathway for future work and highlights the importance of species selection aligned with local environmental conditions. Meanwhile, the incremental but consistent gains observed for Zostera marina at Burntisland show that, with continued refinement of methods and site targeting, further recovery is achievable.
Overall, the restoration programme successfully established functioning seagrass patches covering an area of just over 0.2ha. Rather than representing an endpoint, these achievements provide a strong foundation for long-term but slow meadow recovery and expansion.
Key lessons for restoration activities
The programme highlights several positive and actionable lessons:
- Small, well-established patches can survive and provide nuclei for future meadow expansion.
- Intertidal restoration, particularly with Zostera noltii, offers a reliable and scalable restoration pathway.
- Targeted site selection and adaptive monitoring significantly improve restoration outcomes.
- Even modest early successes generate ecological feedbacks that can enhance longterm recovery potential.
The project was made possible through the support of Aviva, the ScottishPower Foundation, the Moondance Foundation, SKY UK, the Cinven Foundation, and the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot.
To read more about the seagrass restoration trials undertaken as part of Restoration Forth, read our report.
