Coastal Communities Network Gathering 2024
October 15, 2024 Content Team 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 Scotland showcased their projects, held skill-sharing workshops, and collectively unpacked common challenges such as funding, advocacy, and management to explore collaborative solutions. Project Seagrass Trustee Rosslyn Barr was also in attendance with her project Edinburgh Shoreline. Rosslyn shared Edinburgh Shoreline’s story, including their part in Restoration Forth and news of an exciting new project they are developing looking at blue mussels. Many of the seagrass groups were in attendance, providing an opportunity to catch up and explore opportunities for collaboration in 2025. As part of the gathering, Katy delivered a pilot of a new survey developed as part of “Accelerate Seagrass” a new collaborative programme with Climate Impact Partners, Deloitte, and the National Oceanography Centre. The survey aims to connect with local ecological knowledge around Scotland on both current and historical seagrass and to understand localised drivers of decline. This data will help identify areas for tailored conservation and restoration work from a social-ecological perspective ensuring resilience of projects. Katy gathered valuable feedback from members of COAST, CROMACH, Eigg Environmental Action Group, and CLP nature action which will be used to inform further development of the survey. Thanks to these projects for their feedback, we are looking forward to sharing the final piece with you soon. The breadth of positive action delivered by these mostly voluntary ran community groups was inspiring and highlights the power of community. Thanks to the team at Fauna and Flora International for inviting us and the work they do supporting these groups to flourish. Find out more about the organisations in attendance: Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) Young Sea Changers Scotland Carna Conservation Initiative Clean Coast Outer Hebrides Dunoon Development Trust Kintyre Coastal Network Fair Isle Marine Research Organisation (FIMRO) CLP Nature Action Eriboll Community Craignish Restoration of Marine and Coastal Habitats (CROMACH) Eigg Environmental Action Group Moray Ocean Community East Have Together Edinburgh Shoreline Friends of Sound of Jura Fairlie Coastal Community Association of Lochs and Sounds (CAOLAS) Argyll Hope Spot The Scottish Coastal Clean Up Skye Seas Survey Initiative Friends of Loch Hourn
Climate Impact Partners and Deloitte Join Forces to Unlock Large-Scale Seagrass Recovery Financing
October 9, 2024 Content Team Climate Impact Partners and Deloitte, in collaboration with Project Seagrass and the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, announce a groundbreaking program to fund UK seagrass recovery and unlock long-term finance to save and reinstate vital seagrass meadows. The program will fund critical research across UK seagrass meadows, mapping the ecosystems and developing methods to restore them at scale. Crucially, this work will support the development of a new seagrass carbon code in the UK and beyond – enabling companies to finance seagrass recovery at greater speed and scale. Despite seagrass’ crucial role in sequestering carbon, protecting coastlines, and supporting marine biodiversity; seagrass restoration has been underfunded, with nearly a third of seagrass lost globally in the last century. This program will look to address the barriers that prevent finance flowing to seagrass restoration, including improving the scientific knowledge of carbon sequestration, piloting new techniques for seagrass propagation and engaging communities in meadow restoration. This program forms a key part of Deloitte’s Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) activities, supporting innovative solutions outside their value chain. Deloitte is using skills, influence and targeted investment to catalyze environmental and social impact across the energy transition, circularity, sustainable food systems and nature restoration. “Reaching net-zero will require the global economy to decarbonize as part of a connected system,” said Smruti Naik-Jones, Chief Sustainability Officer of Deloitte UK and North & South Europe. “This incredible seagrass program, developed by Climate Impact Partners, enables us to learn more about these marine ecosystems, fund critical research and help unlock a powerful tool in the fight against the climate crisis.” “Deloitte is demonstrating true climate leadership through this program. Seagrass offers a unique opportunity to mitigate climate change while delivering significant co-benefits for biodiversity and coastal communities,” said Kirsty Schneeberger, Head of Product Innovation at Climate Impact Partners. “Imagine seagrass meadows as underwater vaults – they lock away enormous amounts of carbon for long periods, potentially millennia, as long as they remain healthy and undisturbed. We need to ensure they receive long-term and large-scale financing to accelerate the restoration and protection of these underwater wonders.” “We need to protect and restore seagrass whilst supporting the continuation of sustainable human activities that occur amongst or depend directly upon seagrass ecosystems”, said Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, Chief Executive Officer and Charity Co-Founder, Project Seagrass. “We need to do this now, as a connected global community. This program helps to deliver this.” “Seagrass meadows are the powerhouses of coastal seas providing a nature-based solution to climate change, said Dr Claire Evans, Biogeochemist, the UK’s National Oceanography Centre. “They have been neglected for decades, which has led to their large-scale degradation and loss. This program exemplifies how we can turn that loss into an opportunity for environmental renewal through large-scale restoration.” In coordination with Project Seagrass, a team of volunteers from Deloitte and Climate Impact Partners helped harvest seedlings from a healthy seagrass meadow for the recovery program.
Seagrass Ocean Rescue Volunteer Profile: Neil
September 19, 2024 The Seagrass Ocean Rescue North Wales programme relies on the commitment and enthusiasm of local volunteers. We spoke to regular volunteer Neil about his experiences of volunteering as part of the programme. Volunteer Interview Tell us a little bit about yourself: I grew up in North Wales, then moved around a lot during a career in the automotive industry. After Covid, there was an opportunity to step out and do something different, so it was time to do things I wanted to do rather than had to do. How did you first get involved with the seagrass restoration community project? I’d seen the team operating in Porthdinllaen , read about it, and started to preach about it to anyone that was unfortunate to be in hearing range! Then there was a stroke of luck and I managed to inflict myself upon the boat crew for a few days. What are your hopes for this restoration work? That the word spreads, that more people who don’t mean to negatively affect the environment can learn not to, and that I can keep visiting the areas that we are developing and planting to see them flourish and provide a starting base for more wildlife to move in. It’s great to see how quickly nature can respond, given a chance. I’ve learnt that it’s very subtle changes we make that can help or hinder the natural environment. What inspired you to get involved, what drives your commitment to this cause? I’d just semi-retired, had wandered past the boat team working in Porthdinllaen, did some reading, started to tell others about it, then it was a lucky break to be involved in one of the boat teams. Then it just got out of control from there really! I go snorkelling, boating, and diving and I get frustrated when I see the natural environment being needlessly abused, so this is just one way to try and stop that. The amazing areas of the world provide lots of fun, inspiration and happiness for so many people, sometimes the consequence is pressure on the very thing we go to see, by providing more of those areas then it’s good for everyone. What does it mean to you to spend time in nature, what do you feel nature provides you with? It’s great to see how quickly nature can respond, given a chance. I’ve learnt that it’s very subtle changes we make that can help or hinder the natural environment. What seagrass restoration activities have you taken part in? So far, planting both seeds and shoots, harvesting new seeds and monitoring. Learning from the different team members, chatting with ambassadors and meeting other people that are getting involved. What part of this restoration work are you most proud of? I think it’s the planting, because when we go back to monitor progress and after only a few months we see that nature has already started to move in, then that’s a good thing. The Seagrass Ocean Rescue Project is managed by WWF, in partnership with Project Seagrass, the North Wales Wildlife Trust, Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Swansea University. The project is made possible with support from funders that include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Moondance Foundation. If you would like to volunteer as part of the project contact volunteers@projectseagrass.org Principal Funders Partners
Project Update: Restoration Forth August 2024
September 3, 2024 Content Team Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Restoration Forth August Fieldwork | Seagrass highlights from Orkney The seagrass team are not long back from Orkney, where they spent just under a month conducting this year’s seagrass seed harvest as part of the Restoration Forth August fieldwork. Many snorkel sessions were conducted to harvest seed baring reproductive shoots to further drive our restoration trials here in the Forth. Despite the fair-weather conditions and ample snorkel sessions the team have returned with slightly less material than what was collected last year. However, this should not prohibit our restoration ambitions next spring. Whilst in Orkney the team were able to deliver a range of community events, which included participating in this year’s Stromness shopping week. MSPs Ariane Burgess and Liam McArthur joined Restoration Forth’s community snorkel sessions in Orkney where, along with members of the local community, they met the team and learned about how projects like Restoration Forth aim to restore nature and drive future restoration. Increasing knowledge amongst elected representatives about the importance of these habitats is an important part of highlighting the need for the Scottish Government to bring forward legislation to protect and restore Scotland’s nature. In addition to the seeds collected from Orkney, the team will be visiting the Moray Firth. In the first week of September the team will meet up Mossy Earth and Moray Ocean Community to organise an intertidal seagrass pick. This community and knowledge exchange intends to bring our projects closer together and further our collective knowledge. Intertidal seeds gathered from the Moray coast will provide insights into whether there are differences in germination rates between subtidal and intertidal seeds. Newhaven Oyster Mural is going ahead! We are pleased to announce that the Oyster Mural planned for the Heart of Newhaven’s Anchor building has been granted planning permission. Thank you to everyone who was involved in workshopping ideas for the design, including Victoria Primary school. Natasha Russell, Edinburgh based illustrator and mural artist, has created the design to incorporate many of the local species that people expressed an interest in. The mural aims to engage passers by with the wonders of local biodiversity. Captured within the oyster shells in the design, there are scenes and stories that represent the cultural importance of oysters in the Forth, including the fishing of, and release of oysters into the water. It celebrates the oyster’s return to the Forth and their key role within the local ecosystems, whilst acknowledging the deep local history with the oyster fishing trade. The mural will be painted in September. Come along to the Doors Open Day at the Heart of Newhaven on the 28th September at 11.00, to see the unveiling of the mural.
Fieldwork notes from our summer seed collections
September 2, 2024 Content Team Read our fieldwork notes from our summer seagrass seed collection: North Wales Seed Collection A brilliant start to our annual seed collections, with summer finally arriving right on time! The weather has been fantastic, with underwater visibility not too far off 10m, and not a drop of rain so far… Here’s hoping it holds out until next week! It’s been a very busy start, but here’s just a few of the highlights: Day 0.5 – Day 1 | Saturday 27th – Sunday 28thAfter arriving in good time on Saturday afternoon and launching Gwen with no troubles, the team spent Sunday morning moving all our equipment into Cabin Gryff and Gwen, before setting up the temporary seed storage tanks. We then went through a few rescue refreshers. The dive team set up the keep nets on the RNLI buoys, which will be home to all the seeds collected by both teams during the trip. The team practiced diver recovery drills, before finishing the day with a first seed collection dive The snorkel team went out seed collecting, but having missed the morning Low Tide, learnt the hard way that duck diving for seeds is rather tiring! Day 2 | Monday 29thThe snorkel team, led by Amel, started the day as they will throughout the trip, with seed tank water changes! They then had a far more successful seed collection snorkel, bagging plenty of seeds. Charles has also started his VR footage collection using the 360 camera, capturing some fantastic images of the meadow. Fingers crossed some fun species ‘take the bait’. Meanwhile, Manning has been sampling sites as part of his Masters project, with the help of Richard, who has been out flying the drone round the LLyn, taking advantage of the clear skys! The dive team completed three meadow health surveys, which will help us assess the current state of the Porthdinllaen meadow, and monitor any potential impact of our seed collections going forward. We were joined by Katie Dubois, a lecturer at Bangor University, who helped with our afternoon seed collection dives. The meadow is bursting with seeds, so we should be set for a good collection! Day 3 | Tuesday 30thThe snorkel team had their best collection yet today, and were in the water battling the cold for a good 4 hours! Another big haul of seeds! The dive team ticked off half the mechanisation surveys, which will help wrap up the mechanisation project. We then went seed collecting, whilst dropping down Charles’s VR camera to catch some footage. Day 4 | 31st JulyWe arrived early to set up our stand ready for our FIRST volunteers. We also welcomed our Ambassador Miranda Krestovnikoff. Day 5 | 1st AugustOne quick water change later and we’re back in the water! We started by taking the VR camera out to get a series of snorkeling shots through and coming out of the seagrass meadow before placing down for an hour-long shot. We then proceeded to pick seeds joined by Leanne and Miranda. Once again, a perfect dive, with pristine waters and life abundant. To end our day off we did a quick evening session with the VR camera. It was an amazing shoot with many fish species and a perfect way to end the day. Day 6 | 2nd AugustToday we rested. Day 7 | 3rd AugustAfter an excellent rest day we proceeded to begin our week of volunteer seed collections. We started the day by transporting volunteer divers off before getting everything prepared for the snorkel volunteers. The day went brilliantly, with all snorkelers/waders returning, smiling and with happy faces. We chatted, and met so many fantastic people! Day 8 | 4th AugustOnce again, Amel and Emma were up bright and early to transport volunteer divers before joining the rest of the day. We joined WWF for a Philanthropy Day, a day for all of our donors and backers. The day started with a quick meal before returning to set up all equipment and stand ready to take our donors for a quick snorkel. All came back with smiles and a successful day all around. The dive team been out every day for seed collections, seed collections, seed collections! Jake Davies and Neil Shone have joined throughout, and we had Dr Katie Dubois (Bangor University) with us again on Sunday! Day 9 | 5th AugustA windy and rainy storm has scarpered all snorkelling activities! We’ve all but finished the mechanisation trial surveys (there’s a few buoys missing so we may have to return and drop shot lines on the coordinates). The best news is there are still lots of seeds coming up after every dive! We’ve all but filled three keepnets (the total we managed last year), so hopefully we should be well on target for 1.5 million by the end of the trip! We’ll be out to install another keepnet tomorrow. Volunteers divers have also been joining since Saturday, with great feedback from all. Day 10 | 6th AugustToday was the first of our snorkel and wading volunteering sessions and it went really well! We were joined by 51 volunteers including WWF, Iwan Rheon, the Crown Estate, North Wales Wildlife Trust (with their Youth Forum and Interns) alongside lots of Project Seagrass volunteers! BBC joined us and interviewed Leanne and Rich! The dive team carried out two more dives (for me at least) with lots of seeds collected. We are into our fourth keepnet of seeds, which exceeds last year’s total already, and we’re hopeful the reproductive shoots are bearing more seeds than previous years too. Day 11 | 7th AugustCharles, Andrew, and volunteer Antje headed to Porthdinllaen this morning to capture more footage for the VR Project while Andrew and Corinne headed to Hafan y Mor to install a seagrass information sign. Another successful snorkel and wading volunteering session delivered in the afternoon/early evening. Over 30 volunteers joined us including representatives from the Crown Estate, WWF, and North Wales Wildlife Trust. BBC Radio Cymru joined
Underwater seagrass seed harvester – Support our Crowdfunder!
August 27, 2024 Seagrass meadows are essential for the health of our oceans. They provide vital habitats for marine life, improve water quality, and store significant amounts of carbon. Unfortunately, these vital ecosystems are in decline. Here at Project Seagrass, we are on a mission to restore seagrass meadows to help create a healthier world and protect against the impacts of climate change. To achieve this, we are partnering with Tandem Ventures to develop an underwater seagrass seed harvester to help us to more efficiently collect seagrass seeds and scale up the restoration process. In order to do this, we need your help. We need to raise £30,000 to design, develop, and test this innovative new technology. Supporting our Crowdfunder will make seagrass restoration faster, more efficient, and scalable. Donate Today The Problem Currently, seagrass seed collection relies on divers using scissors – a slow and labour-intensive process. This bottleneck limits large-scale restoration efforts. We need to invent a new and radically better method this summer, while the seagrass is producing seeds. Time is ticking! Our Solution: The Underwater Seagrass Seed Harvester Key Features Automated Operation: Operates far more efficiently, reducing the need for manual labour. Efficient Collection: Gently harvests seeds without damaging the seagrass beds. Boat-Towed Design: Causes minimal disturbance to the seabed while covering large areas quickly. Adjustable: Key elements of the design can be adjusted to most efficiently collect Seagrass seeds in differing environments. Open-Source Design: Thoroughly documented and shareable plans, allowing replication and application worldwide. Join Us in Making a Difference We need to raise £30,000 to make this vision a reality. If we meet our target, the £30,000 will be allocated as follows: £6,500 for design, research and prototyping £15,000 for building the seagrass seed harvester £2,500 for documentation, and £6,000 for testing and iteration. Your support is crucial for the future of our oceans. By backing this project, you’re investing in innovative technology and a healthier planet. Together, we can restore seagrass meadows and protect marine life for generations to come. Donate via our Crowdfunder. Donate Today
Seagrass Ocean Rescue Volunteer Profile: Bob
August 12, 2024 As our 2024 seagrass seed collection in North Wales draws to a close we spoke to Seagrass Ocean Rescue volunteer Bob Pethers about his experience of volunteering as part of the project. Tell us a little bit about yourself: I’m Bob Pethers, originally from London but have lived and worked in North Wales for 40 years. I have taken early retirement from the NHS and currently volunteer with North Wales Wildlife Trust and Project Seagrass. How did you first get involved with the seagrass restoration community project? At the end of a Shoresearch rocky shore survey for the North Wales Wildlife Trust we were given a short presentation on seagrass restoration and I realised immediately that this combined my concern for the health of our seas with my enthusiasm for gardening! I ended up on a seagrass monitoring course run by Project Seagrass, and the rest is history. What are your hopes for this restoration work? That it makes a difference to the health of our seas, and it will! What inspired you to get involved, what drives your commitment to this cause? I jokingly say that I’m involved in seagrass restoration purely out of self interest as one of my hobbies is sea fishing, and healthy seagrass meadows lead to healthy fish populations! In reality I’ve always been concerned about the environment and nature and considered myself an environmentalist from when it really wasn’t fashionable. Looking back I realise we could have done more (hindsight is a wonderful thing), but still proud of our efforts to find peat free compost 30 years ago! Now I have the opportunity to make a difference around my local shores, and the thought of thriving seagrass meadows in the future drives me forward on those cold and rainy spring tides. What does it mean to you to spend time in nature, what do you feel nature provides you with? Being in nature enhances my physical and mental health, nothing can beat being in the moment. What seagrass restoration activities have you taken part in? After agreeing a planting area with Project Seagrass, I started off collecting fragments at Porthdinllaen and planting these (after cleaning off other lifeforms and soaking in fresh water for 24 hours) at Traeth Crugan. This has continued with various tweaks to the methodology through research and discussion and evaluating the success rates. Now I concentrate on the big spring tides and planting on mass to maximise success, and on the last survey this year’s plantings had an encouraging 56% success rate. Inevitably I was talking to the Project Seagrass team a lot, and ended up helping with the seed planting (sacks, seed balls and injection), monitoring, and have just completed the circle by snorkelling at Porthdinllaen for seagrass seeds! What part of this restoration work are you most proud of? I’m most proud of all the other volunteers I meet over the course of the year. Their enthusiasm is both inspiring and heartwarming. I have the opportunity to make a difference around my local shores, and the thought of thriving seagrass meadows in the future drives me forward on those cold and rainy spring tides. The Seagrass Ocean Rescue Project is managed by WWF, in partnership with Project Seagrass, the North Wales Wildlife Trust, Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Swansea University. The project is made possible with support from funders that include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Moondance Foundation. Principal Funders Partners
Project Update: Restoration Forth | July 2024
August 12, 2024 Content Team Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Seagrass – the outcome of monitoring Back in March, 128 volunteers helped Restoration Forth plant more seagrass seeds along the Firth of Forth. The team and volunteers have been keeping a close eye on their growth. A HUGE thank you to all the passionate and dedicated volunteers for your time! Although we don’t have the full picture yet, fewer shoots have emerged than we hoped, so we are working to understand why. We know the nature of restoration projects can be challenging, but what we’ve learned through this process has been incredibly helpful. We’ve also been trialling the transplantation of dwarf eelgrass cores – by transplanting cores (seagrass with the sediment) from established meadows to adjacent bare sediment. With this method we are hoping to extend the current seagrass area in the Firth of Forth. This year we have transplanted 400 cores, and last year we have transplanted 480 cores. This method seems to be working well, and we’ll be monitoring them more closely in coming months. Keep your fingers and toes crossed! Oysters We recently launched our new citizen science resource and are running some training events in our oyster citizen science activities in the coming weeks, including some family friendly sessions aimed at getting young people involved in citizen science. You can find the activities and all the information on how to take part on the webpage here under ‘Help Restore the Firth of Forth’. As we start to near the end of summer it is time to think about our next oyster deployments. We aim to release a further 10,000 oysters into the Firth of Forth in Autumn, so keep an ear out for opportunities to be involved in our biosecurity days soon.
Scientists outline 10 golden rules for seagrass restoration
August 6, 2024 Content Team 196 of the world’s nations are committed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to tackling nature loss. Habitat restoration is a major pathway to tackling this loss. For marine habitats such as seagrass, such restoration is often portrayed as an easy answer to fighting many of our planetary ills causing this nature loss. But as evidence grows of the issues and challenges of such activities, scientists from Project Seagrass and Swansea University have outlined ten golden rules to help improve this restoration. Their work is published today in an Open Access article in the journal Plants People Planet. The article responds to the increasing pressures faced by seagrass ecosystems globally and the need to rapidly rebuild marine life. The authors highlight throughout that in order to restore our ocean biodiversity, we first need to focus on reducing the stressors to these habitats, namely water quality, boating and coastal development. The authors who have been studying seagrass conservation and restoration argue for a shift beyond a singularised view of restoration as being about planting new meadows to a combined view where damaged and fragmented meadows are rejuvenated; threatened and diminishing meadows are protected; and more meadows become resilient. The rules confirm the need for collaborative approaches to restoration which create biodiverse ecosystems that support coastal communities and improve communities. Dr Richard Unsworth, lead author on the paper who is the Chief Scientific Officer at Project Seagrass and Associate Professor at Swansea University said, “To rebuild marine life at the scale and speed required to fight the biodiversity crisis and the climate emergency we need to think bigger, whereby we bring degraded habitats back to life at the same time as creating vast new habitat in support of coastal livelihoods, and community resilience” The paper has been published following the International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15) hosted in Naples, Italy earlier this year, the theme of this which was “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”. As human activities place ever-increasing pressure on seagrass ecosystems at both a local and global scale the resulting changes in environmental conditions have altered seagrass ecosystems to an extent that has not previously been observed. The challenge currently facing the global community is the need to establish a new baseline and protect, restore, and rehabilitate the seagrass ecosystems that currently remain. Dr Benjamin Jones, Chief Conservation Officer at Project Seagrass and author of the paper says: “Coastal environments suffer from excess nutrients and contaminants from poor land management, deforestation and ineffective pollution management. If we are to place seagrass on a pathway to global net gain, for restoration to have any meaningful contribution, we also need to think about restoring watersheds and thinking upstream – restoring the land to restore the sea”. The ten golden rules originally developed by Unsworth and Jones for seagrass restoration, and outlined below, aim to ensure that existing seagrass is protected, that multiple and diverse stakeholders are involved in planning to support the selection of appropriate sites and ongoing stewardship, that appropriate restoration methods are utilized, and that realism is adopted in the face of the challenges surrounding global restoration efforts particularly in light of ongoing climatic pressure. Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, CEO at Project Seagrass and an author of the paper says: “Fantastic progress is being made in the field of conservation and restoration of seagrass meadows, but in order for this to happen at the scale and speed required, we wanted to set out a series of holistic guidelines, based on available research and experience, that practitioners can follow for improved chances of success.” 10 Golden Rules for restoration to secure resilient and just seagrass social-ecological systems (set out in detail below) Protect existing seagrass first Work together Create biodiverse ecosystems with multiple functions for people and planet Select appropriate sites for restoration Determine appropriate restoration methods Use resilient plant materials and future proof your project Maximize the potential opportunity of the restoration Plan ahead for infrastructure, capacity, and restoration material Develop realistic informed goals and reporting Make it pay 10 Golden Rules (Detailed summary of the paper) 1. Protect existing seagrass first Amidst the context of growing interest in seagrass restoration, the authors emphasize that it is much slower, more difficult, and more expensive to re-plant seagrass meadows than it is to protect those that currently remain. Protection from localized stressors can relieve pressure on our existing seagrass be this through the implementation of improved water quality from better catchment management, reduced boating damage, establishment of Marine Protected Areas or through the encouragement of alternative low-impact livelihoods, tourism, and fishing practices. The authors also outline the need to prioritise which seagrass meadows to protect taking into consideration predicted future climatic conditions such as changing temperatures, sea level rise, land use change, and the gradual topicalization of temperate systems. 2. Work together Restoration is a collaborative process and the authors discuss the importance of the involvement of multiple and diverse stakeholders, expertise, and experience throughout all stages of the restoration process. Seagrass social-ecological systems support diverse uses and livelihoods, from fishing and recreation, to harvesting of raw plant material. Rights and equality are central, and stakeholders should be encouraged to continue activities, not just undisturbed, but enhanced by increased seagrass resilience. Engaging local communities and stakeholders during the site selection period is essential as these groups will often become the long-term custodians of the restoration site. Without working together, long-term seagrass restoration at scale is simply not possible and finding ways to bring people together to co-design restoration projects will enhance the social capital of resulting habitats. 3. Create biodiverse ecosystems with multiple functions for people and planet The overarching aim of seagrass restoration should be to maximise the biomass and biodiversity of meadows such that they support diverse and resilient ecosystem functioning and services for people and planet. The authors discuss how natural systems simultaneously produce multiple ecosystem services that interrelate in complex and dynamic ways. An overly narrow focus on a limited set of
Seagrass Network Cymru submit National Seagrass Action Plan to Senedd
July 17, 2024 Content Team Seagrass Network Cymru have submitted a National Seagrass Action Plan to the Senedd. Seagrass meadows are critically important allies to tackle the global climate and biodiversity crises and the National Seagrass Action Plan is a direct response to the current condition of seagrass habitat in Wales and the need for a coordinated approach to deliver against current policy commitments. Wales has the opportunity to lead the way in seagrass recovery and the plan presents a blueprint of action over the next five years to achieve a vision where Welsh seagrass meadows are supporting marine biodiversity, vibrant communities, a sustainable economy and making a valuable contribution to the climate emergency response. The 4 priority areas of action needed to achieve this vision are: Mapping Wales’ seagrass Building partnerships across land and sea Halting seagrass loss Reversing seagrass loss Read the full plan here. Seagrass Network Cymru is a collaborative group of NGO’s, academics, commercial businesses, government, and management agencies from across Wales working towards the protection and restoration of seagrass meadows along our Welsh coast.