Category: Blogs

A member of Project Seagrass staff and two members of the community are leaning over one of the ponds inside the polytunnel. One member of the community is holding a strand of seagrass to look at a flower.

Project Seagrass hosts Seagrass Nursery Open Days

On the 9th and 10th of July Project Seagrass welcomed local organisations and members of the community to our Seagrass Nursery in West Wales as part of a series of Open Days.  On the 9th July representatives from Pembrokeshire Council, Carmarthenshire Council, Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, Rebel Energy, SeaLife, Bodorgan Estate,

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An illustration of seagrass with the text "Seagrass Information Posters" overlayed

Multi-lingual seagrass information posters launched

Seagrass meadows provide a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits to people and planet. They provide habitat, food, and shelter to thousands of species of fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Through their diverse use as fishing grounds, they support the creation of jobs and provide access to food sources

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Project Update: Restoration Forth | June 2024

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.  Orkney seagrass trip Next month the seagrass team will be departing for their annual seed collection trip in Orkney. Following

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Two adults are using DIS guns to insert seagrass seeds into sediment on the beach at Hafan y Mor. The sun is reflecting of the sea in the background.

Catalyst Cymru funding supports Pride Cymru collaboration

This Pride Month we’re celebrating our work with Pride Cymru. Thanks to support from Catalyst Cymru, Pride Cymru volunteers supported fieldwork to plant seagrass seeds as part of our programme of restoration work in North Wales. The planting took place earlier this year in Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli. An introduction

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ISBW Conference Logo

Project Seagrass head to Naples for ISBW

Between the 17th and 21st June 2024, over 500 scientists, conservation professionals, and managers will converge in Naples, Italy for the 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15). It will be two years since the last meeting in Annapolis, USA. The theme of ISBW15 is “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, centred around

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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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Want to host the 16th International Seagrass Biology Workshop?

The World Seagrass Association Inc. invites expressions of interest from members and interested organisations/institutions who would like to host the 16th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW) in 2026. The International Seagrass Biology Workshop series is a meeting of research scientists, students and coastal environment managers focusing on global seagrass issues,

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Seagrass Network Cymru submit National Seagrass Action Plan to Senedd

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. 

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A member of Project Seagrass staff and two members of the community are leaning over one of the ponds inside the polytunnel. One member of the community is holding a strand of seagrass to look at a flower.

Project Seagrass hosts Seagrass Nursery Open Days

On the 9th and 10th of July Project Seagrass welcomed local organisations and members of the community to our Seagrass Nursery in West Wales as part of a series of Open Days.  On the 9th July representatives from Pembrokeshire Council, Carmarthenshire Council, Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, Rebel Energy, SeaLife, Bodorgan Estate, South & West Wales Wildlife Trust, Swansea University, Carmarthenshire Local Nature Partnership, Sea Trust, and Welsh Government visited the Nursery as part of a networking day. Working collaboratively is essential to long-term success of seagrass restoration and the networking day provided an opportunity for local stakeholders to discuss existing work and opportunities to collaborate.  On the 10th July the Seagrass Nursery opened its doors to members of the local community with visitors from Laugharne, Pendine, and St Clears alongside the wider Carmarthenshire area.    “Excellent and exciting project – would be interested in its development” Community Feedback  “Beneficial to learn more about the advantages to the environment” Community Feedback  During the Open Days, visitors had the opportunity to join a guided tour of the Seagrass Nursery where members of the nursery team provided an insight into how we are growing seagrass, our approach to storing seeds, and the research we are undertaking into the best methods for seagrass cultivation.   “It was lovely being able to welcome members of the local community and organisations down to our nursery site. The days were a great opportunity to showcase not only our work at the nursery but wider projects from across South and West Wales. Collaboration is key in so much of our work, being able to network with groups while welcoming the local community and harness local knowledge was invaluable.”  Emily Yates, Nursery Lead  Our South & West Wales project lead Emma Fox provided a talk about our existing work in West Wales including our ongoing monitoring and conservation work in Dale.  Emma also shared our upcoming plans to trial further seagrass restoration within the area.  Dr Betti Walter, Marine Science Lead and Sam Rees our Research Assistant discussed our work to scale up the seagrass restoration process, providing visitors with an insight into the range of mechanisation projects that we have been exploring from seed planting sleds to underwater robots.  Our Seagrass Nursery partner Salix joined us for the open days to discuss the work taking place on the wider site in Laugharne and their work to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges found in soil erosion control and river restoration projects.  The work at our Seagrass Nursery is generously supported by Salix, Waterloo Foundation, Aviva Community Fund, and Ozone.  Our Volunteer and Outreach Officer Jo was on hand to discuss opportunities to support our restoration work. It was fantastic to see so many people keen to support future seagrass planting and monitoring projects. If you would like to get involved, sign up to join our Volunteer Database. 

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An illustration of seagrass with the text "Seagrass Information Posters" overlayed

Multi-lingual seagrass information posters launched

Seagrass meadows provide a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits to people and planet. They provide habitat, food, and shelter to thousands of species of fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Through their diverse use as fishing grounds, they support the creation of jobs and provide access to food sources like fish and invertebrates. Their leaves help to purify water, reducing pollutants like heavy metals and harmful bacteria. Seagrass meadows trap carbon within the seabed and, if left undisturbed, can store this for millennia. Their large and deep network of roots extend throughout the seabed helping to stabilise our coastlines. Seagrass Information Posters As part of a recent project, Project Seagrass has been working with Languages United and Green Standard Schools on the creation of multi-lingual seagrass information posters providing an insight into seagrass. The seagrass information posters are free to download from the Project Seagrass website and are available in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Croatian, Greek, Italian, and Polish. The poster design was created by illustrator and science communicator Jack Cowley. The following Green Standard Schools supporting members were involved in the translation of the posters: French In Normandy, CLIC International House Sevilla, Humboldt-Institut, Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Milano, Κέντρο Ξένων Γλωσσών Βαρελά and Škola Jantar. Partners WHY SEAGRASS Discover why it is vital we save the world’s seagrass Explore More

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Project Update: Restoration Forth | June 2024

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.  Orkney seagrass trip Next month the seagrass team will be departing for their annual seed collection trip in Orkney. Following a productive planting season in March 2024, the team will be returning to Kirkwall to collect Zostera marina seeds that will be planted in March 2025. Restoration Forth employs a non-destructive method for collecting seagrass seeds, shoots are hand-picked by snorkellers and divers through a selective process to ensure donor meadows are not over picked.   This year, Project Seagrass are working with Heriot-Watt University and local scallop divers to collect seeds from subtidal seagrass meadows. Prior to seed harvesting, the team conduct extensive surveys of the donor meadows to ensure that the harvesting of seeds will not cause a significant effect to the health or size of the meadows. The deployment of a dive team will increase the yield of seeds collected this year, by accessing subtidal parts of the meadow which are not usually accessible through snorkelling.    Join us for snorkelling sessions at Finstown! Restoration Forth are organising seagrass snorkel sessions this July and August to showcase the rich diversity of marine life that live in these amazing habitats and to demonstrate how we collect seagrass seeds. Further details can be found here.  Photo credit: Raymond Besant  Photo credit: Raymond Besant Oyster Citizen Science We are very excited to announce that the new oyster citizen science activity booklet is now live! Our new booklet contains activities for everyone around the Firth of Forth to get involved in contributing to oyster restoration. 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’.   The Restoration Forth team, with the help of volunteers, will be beach hopping around East Lothian, Edinburgh and Fife with the activity booklet next week. Please do pop by and say hello! We will be at Port Seton Links and Fisherrow Sands, Musselburgh, on Friday 28th June and Cramond Beach and Silver Sands, Aberdour, on Saturday 29th. Timings and more information about the events can be found here.  Oyster Observer Guide Update Thank you so much to those of you who have completed and submitted an Oyster Observer Guide survey. This information will help inform which sites will be most suitable for oyster restoration work. We so far have surveys from the following locations:   Fife: Kingsbarns, Ravenscraig  Edinburgh: Cramond  East Lothian: Seton Beach, Yellowcraig, Morrisons Haven, Belhaven Bay, Longniddry (Bents 1, 2 and 3) Fisherrow Sands and Musselburgh beach.   If you have completed a survey but are still to submit your results, you can do so here. Likewise, if you would like to get involved, the Oyster Observer Guide and instructions on how to take part can be found here.   Photo credit: Caitlin Godfrey  Climate Resilience survey WWF want to learn more about the climate resilience impacts of their projects.  They are running this very short survey to find out more about the impact Restoration Forth has had on you, and your thoughts about local community and climate resilience. It should only take about 5 minutes to complete, and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Scotland Loves Local gift card.   Click here to start the survey  (closes on the 8th July 2024).  Goodbye 100 species The inspiring 100 Species exhibition project is now finished, after having been displayed at Heart of Newhaven to the Scottish Seabird Centre and, finally, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther.  Edinburgh Shoreline held a little thank-you party in the Anstruther Museum for all the Fife contributors on 7th June.  During this the winning paintings from a local schools art competition, organised by the Museum and inspired by the 100 species exhibition, were displayed. A total of 480 children participated and, through their engagement, learned all about Restoration Forth, oysters and seagrass.  The Newhaven Community Choir performed, included one song specially written as a homage to Restoration Forth. Look out for videos on the Edinburgh Shoreline YouTube channel – uploading soon.   In Anstruther there were 2,070 visitors to the exhibition at the Museum.  We are really pleased about the interest this project has raised – through the researching and making of responses to individual species and the huge interest generated through exhibiting them around the Forth. Several of our contributors have already engaged with or signed up for future oyster cleaning events, started regular beach events and expressed interest in future citizen science opportunities.   Photo credit Karen Chambers.

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Two adults are using DIS guns to insert seagrass seeds into sediment on the beach at Hafan y Mor. The sun is reflecting of the sea in the background.

Catalyst Cymru funding supports Pride Cymru collaboration

This Pride Month we’re celebrating our work with Pride Cymru. Thanks to support from Catalyst Cymru, Pride Cymru volunteers supported fieldwork to plant seagrass seeds as part of our programme of restoration work in North Wales. The planting took place earlier this year in Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli. An introduction to Project Seagrass was delivered by our Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Jo followed by an introduction to members of the team. The group were briefed on how to plant seagrass seeds using the DIS (Dispenser Injection System) planting method and were also shown how to use GPS Navigation Devices and a Bathyscope. As a result of the activity which included Pride Cymru Volunteers, around 350,000 seagrass seeds were planted. Each volunteer involved dispensed around 1600 seeds. The plots will be monitored to assess germination rates over the lifetime of the wider project. Through the project Project Seagrass had the opportunity to engage new volunteers who now have a basic knowledge of seagrass systems and the work that we do. The volunteers can share their experience and recommend this activity to others based on direct experience. Sign up to volunteer with Project Seagrass here. This work was made possible thanks to the support from the Catalyst Cymru Community Grant Scheme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, administered by WCVA.

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Project Seagrass head to Naples for ISBW

Between the 17th and 21st June 2024, over 500 scientists, conservation professionals, and managers will converge in Naples, Italy for the 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15). It will be two years since the last meeting in Annapolis, USA. The theme of ISBW15 is “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, centred around the fact that human activities are placing ever-increasing pressure on seagrass ecosystems at both a local and global scale.   As a result of ongoing changes in environmental conditions, seagrass ecosystems have altered 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. Workshops Ben, Leanne and Lucy will be hosting a session on “Securing resilient and just seagrass social-ecological systems” which explores how we can manage and conserve seagrass meadows for both people and planet, with a view to showcasing how humans are an integral part of seagrass systems, shaping ecological dynamics both positively and negatively, that we can no longer ignore.  Ben will also be co-hosting a workshop on the final day of the conference focused on Hypervolume modelling – a multivariate tool for seagrass ecosystem assessments. During the workshop, Ben and his colleagues will present multiple case studies using hypervolumes in seagrass ecosystems, followed by a walkthrough of the data and R code used to conduct the hypervolume analyses.   Talks The Project Seagrass team will be delivering a number of talks throughout the week of the conference.  Esther will discuss the threats that seagrass ecosystems across the British Isles are currently experiencing as a result of poor water quality. Within the context of an increased interest in seagrass restoration, the talk will emphasise the need to understand current threats including water quality, coastal development, and poor land use in order to conserve existing seagrass ecosystems, many of which are approaching their ecological tipping point.  Ben will deliver a talk on the importance of capacity building to reduce parachute science and to fill gaps in existing knowledge of seagrass. Ben will present an approach developed through the IKI Seagrass Ecosystem Services project which sought to deliver site-specific assessments of seagrass health, and to evaluate the ecosystem services seagrass provides. As part of this project a group of six local NGOs and community groups at project sites (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Timor-Leste) were empowered to assess seagrass with the provision of technical tools and capacity building.   In her talk, Anouska will assess the role of temperate seagrass meadows (Z. Marina) in supporting fisheries and quantifying its commercial value using a Seagrass Residency Index (SRI) method. Using case study data from 7 UK seagrass meadow sites the research presents a contemporary picture of the economic value of seagrass meadows.  Emma’s talk will present data from a trans-national study (Scotland, England, France, and the Netherlands) which investigated planting density and configuration in Z. noltii restoration work using core transplantation. Going forwards, the partnership will continue to assess the site-specific differences and explore effective restoration methods for Z. nolti  Richard will present a talk on the interrelationship between seagrass ecosystem services.    Posters Alongside the workshops and talks, members of the team will be presenting posters at the conference.  Lucy’s poster will highlight the high variability in seagrass restoration success, exploring lessons learned and how learning from setbacks and successes can inform future restoration.  Emily will present data from a number of separate trials examining the use of a range of substrates and additions, such as nutrients, to determine the most effective methods of growing seagrass in artificial environments.  To find out more about the conference visit the International Seagrass Biology Workshop website.

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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 we consider collaborative approaches available to Governments to fulfill their responsibilities to seagrass conservation in light of recent commitments made at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).  Multi-sector partnerships for seagrass conservation In February 2024, parties at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP14 in Uzbekistan passed a resolution that recognises the role that seagrasses play in supporting migratory species. This is the first time that seagrass’ important role for migratory species has been recogised within a global context with the resolution requiring signatory states to report on their progress towards seagrass-related biodiversity goals.   The resolution presents a significant opportunity for signatory states and one which will require a collaborative and cross-sector approach given the requirement for governments to report on the location of seagrass meadows, the migratory species utilising them, and the threats facing these important habitats.  The scale of this work will require significant investment which working in isolation is likely to render unachievable financially. Governments could instead opt for the creation of multi-sector strategic partnerships in deliver their reporting requirements and leverage sufficient funding towards this work.  One approach available to Governments could be to develop strategic partnerships with NGOs and scientific institutions to develop ecosystem service credits or other new financing systems. These marine credits could subsequently be sold as offsets to corporations or governments whose activities are having a detrimental impact on our marine environment which would in turn fund the work required to reverse this damage.  However, the effectiveness of any credit system would rely upon its responsible implementation and strong regulation.  Seagrass meadow ecosystems play host to complex interactions between local communities and nature (social-ecological systems). Conservation finance solutions must therefore benefit these communities directly rather than channeling funding to businesses or third parties.   Dugong feeding on seagrass, Great Fringing Reef, Red Sea Photo Credit: Anett Szaszi, Ocean Image Bank Dunlin (Calidris alpina) Credit: Emma ButterworthPhoto Credit: Emma Butterworth Brent Geese (Branta bernicla) Photo Credit: Charles Bagshaw The need for effective seagrass mapping to inform approaches One of the major challenges facing seagrass conservation and restoration is the availability of seagrass maps upon which the successful implementation of approaches such as ecosystem service credits will depend.  Progress and developments continue to be made with mapping methods including satellite remote sensing and underwater vehicles however the current picture remains far from complete. Utilising the local knowledge of indigenous people, citizen scientists, and researchers to build on existing data and create reliable maps will be essential to working towards the resolution’s mapping goals.  Working in partnership will enable COP14 signatory states to make steps towards global net gain for seagrass.  You can read more here.

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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 in biodiversity is a challenge, not least because coastal marine ecosystems are exposed to threats occurring both in the ocean and on land. Land use change, through conversion of native terrestrial vegetation for agriculture, urbanization, and industry increases runoff and sedimentation, causing degradation of coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows.   Swathes of evidence from across the globe reveal that anthropogenic activities from the land are some of the largest drivers of seagrass loss. For example, research from the Philippines has revealed that land use is more important than marine protection for tropical seagrass condition, and our own research has revealed the agricultural drivers of seagrass degradation across the British Isles. Yet for the most part, conservation prioritisation for coastal ecosystems is traditionally centred around protecting intact habitats from ocean-based stressors (e.g., fishing). If we are to conserve seagrass, we need to look beyond the ocean, and to the land. And this year’s World Environment Day is a key reminder of that.  To conserve seagrass, should we be protecting habitat on land, protecting habitat in the ocean, restoring habitat on land, restoring habitat in the ocean, or a mixture of these actions? Answering this question is extremely difficult, not least when data is absent, histories of change are blurred, priorities for monitoring and management change and the nature and extent of threats to seagrass are unknown. In these instances, we believe that it is vital to understand which threats local stakeholders observe or perceive as being most persistent. Interweaving indigenous and local knowledge, and other expert witness knowledge as alternative data sources, is key.  Our land. Our future.  Seagrass meadows in the Wakatobi National Park (WNP), Indonesia are exploited for their rich fish and invertebrate communities – faunal communities that provide food security and livelihoods across the National Parks islands. Yet, with a growing population, the area of seagrass habitat is decreasing, and plant species composition and health is declining.   Working with our local partner, FORKANI, and after a series of focus groups with local stakeholders, it seemed clear that the issue and threat they felt was most dominant, was sedimentation; the removal of mangroves and primarily forest areas had lessened the ability for land to absorb and store water. Built on indigenous and local knowledge, FORKANI, in collaboration with Project Seagrass, developed an incentives programme designed to provide fruit trees to farmers and landowners to facilitate stabilisation of river banks and reduce sediment deposition to the coast and at the same time improve the continually worsening problem of water storage.  Now, over 5000 trees have been planted along riverbanks across the National Park by FORKANI, as well as school groups and government ministers.   Photo: Nusi, a member of FORKANI, tends to trees in a nursery. Photo: Teenagers and school groups also took part in tree planting.  

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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 configuring the mini-buoys. Solent fieldwork update: Day 2  We monitored this years restoration plots at Priory Bay – all transplants remain in place and all plots with seeds (which we saw cotyledons growing last time) have fully germinated to become seedlings. We were joined by Liz, a volunteer, but also a Liz Earle staff member, making us a team of 4. We installed the mini-buoy and associated HOBO logger. I’m not convinced the existing seagrass meadow at Priory Bay is looking in a particularly healthy state, so I think there is monitoring requirement for this, there are however reproductive shoots present with seed development under way. We will be up on the early morning tide (5am) for Mannings project (data collection).   Solent fieldwork update: Day 3  We started the day with 4:30 am beach sampling at Seaview for Mannings project, and managed to get some drone imagery of the meadow at Seaview and mooring scars. We also had a lovely surprising visit from a small spotted cat shark. We paid a visit to Cowes Island Sailing Club and met the secretary and dropped off some leaflets in anticipation for the club talk in November. The new Mermaid Garden (by Mermaid Gin) is part of the sailing club which looks great, so quite a nice full-circle collaboration and partnership developing between the three of us. Flo and Jo made it to us and we headed out for round 2 of monitoring at Priory Bay including the Solent Seascape Monitoring protocol. We also managed to download the HOBO data and get a few drone snaps here too. Solent fieldwork update: Day 4 We monitored our restoration planting sites at Thorness on the evening tide, installed the HOBO logger and Mini-Buoy, undertook Solent Seascape Monitoring and Manning managed to get another site for his project. Encouraging to see that the transplants from the donor meadow had reproductive shoots developing at both planting sites despite not having them when we picked them. Still lots of germination at Thorness but would say a bit slower and patchier than at Priory Bay   Solent fieldwork update: Day 5  We did a bit of a recce at Ryde to show Flo and Jo the area for the seed picking. Currently on the ferry over to Southampton and will make our way over to Beaulieu. We utilised the evening tide to undertake monitoring of all previous experimental planting plots – the mud at Beaulieu is as glorious as ever and even got the better of a few of us. No growth in any of the plots, and fragments seem to have also disappeared. Most of the plot pins remain in place. We downloaded the HOBO logger data.   Solent fieldwork update: Day 6  Myself, Flo and Becky headed for the early morning tide to do a recce of Lepe seagrass meadow. Surprising how inshore the meadow was and how different the sediment was there. Seagrass reproductive shoots are already maturing in this location and the meadow looks really healthy.  Many fishers utilising the seagrass meadows this morning – they were after bass. Much of the day is cleaning, re-packing, data input and preparation for tomorrow’s engagement event. Myself and Manning are heading home shortly and Jo, Becky and Flo will attend tomorrow’s Family Conservation Awareness Day in Bucklers Hard. South and West Wales Fieldwork (Emma Fox, South and West Wales Lead) South and West Wales  fieldwork update: Day 1 Five of us headed to Llanelli, to collect 75 Z.noltii cores from the donor meadow. The core collecting was easy and lovely in the heat. The struggle came when we were transporting the 75 transplants (which equates to 75 kgs) the mile’s walk back to the van with a slightly wobbly trolley. Nevertheless, the team pulled together and we managed well for 80% of the way, until we crossed paths with a cockler in a truck, who kindly offered to take the crates for the last part! We have since secured access to the meadow with a truck and so tomorrow, when we repeat the operation, it will be a lot smoother! We found we still had plenty of time (very lucky to have a massive tidal window) and decided to push on and head over to our planting site. There the bamboo canes which Celia and I prepped two weeks ago were still in place and we planted out half of the cores before the tide finally started to come in. Ended the day with a debrief and ice-cream.    South and West Wales  fieldwork update: Day 2 Today consisted of planting out the last of the cores in the remaining plots. It was nice that we’d halved the work for ourselves because it was also an opportunity for some stakeholder engagement, which meant we had plenty of time for chatting. A good number of people popped down, including Judith (Carmarthen Bay & Estuaries European Marine Site Officer) who helped us out with the transplants, Paul (Carmarthen Conservation Co-ordinator) who is going to help us tomorrow with his truck. Another debrief over ice cream to wrap up, before heading back to HQ to wash kit / prep for tomorrow. South and West Wales  fieldwork update: Day 3 Very similar to day 1, however we had a lift to and from the meadow which was amazing, much much needed to transport the transplants. We also put out a HOBO logger into the Llanelli planting site, before returning late to the warehouse and started prepping for DIS tomorrow. Emily meanwhile brought the Z.marina seeds across from the nursery to the warehouse, along with the Z.noltii which has been in the quarantine tank since August. This is staying in it’s holding tank until Sunday

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Want to host the 16th International Seagrass Biology Workshop?

The World Seagrass Association Inc. invites expressions of interest from members and interested organisations/institutions who would like to host the 16th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW) in 2026. The International Seagrass Biology Workshop series is a meeting of research scientists, students and coastal environment managers focusing on global seagrass issues, improving seagrass knowledge, developing networks and advocating for seagrass protection/conservation. ISBWs are often 4-6 day events, made up of 2-3 days of talks (in a conference setting) and 1-2 days of workshops and often include an additional day for a field trip. Participants are generally around 100 individuals, however, this is highly dependent on the venue. The timing for ISBWs has mostly been late September, although the timing is dependent on what is most suitable for the hosting country (e.g. tides, holidays, etc). We would also like to encourage organisations/institutions in localities that have been underrepresented in past ISBWs to consider hosting this event to highlight the need for seagrass research and to expand our research networks. After the first official ISBW in 1993 it was decided that meetings were to be held at two year intervals, swapping between developed and developing nation locations. The 2024 meeting (ISBW15) will be held in Naples, Italy, from 17-21 June, in conjunction with the World Seagrass Conference (WSC2024) (https://www.isbw15.it/). Past ISBW venues include:ISBW1 (1993)    Japan – KominatoISBW2 (1996)    Australia – Rottnest IslandISBW3 (1998)    The Philippines – Quezon City and BolinaoISBW4 (2000)    France – Corsica!SBW5 (2002)    Mexico – EnsenadaISBW6 (+Conference) (2004)    Australia -Townsville and Magnetic islandISBW7 (2006)    Africa – ZanzibarISBW8 (2008)    Canada – Bamfield, Vancouver islandISBW9 (+Conference) (2010)     Thailand – Phuket and Trang ProvinceISBW10 (2012)   Brazil – BuziosISBW11 (2014)   China – Sanya, Hainan ProvinceISBW12 (2016)   United Kingdom – Nant Gwrtheyrn, WalesISBW13 (+Conference) (2018) SingaporeISBW14 (+Conference) (2022) USA – Annapolis, Maryland To read about the history of the ISBW series, seeColes, R., Short, F., Fortes, M. and Kuo, J (2014) Twenty years of seagrass networking and advancing seagrass science: The International Seagrass Biology Workshop Series. Pacific Conservation Biology 20(1): 8–16. (http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/302/paper/PC140008.htm), andHind-Ozan, E.J., Jones, B.L., 2017. Seagrass science is growing: A report on the 12th International Seagrass Biology Workshop. Marine Pollution Bulletin.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.08.017 The International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW) is an official activity of the  World Seagrass Association Inc., and WSA Inc. plays a guiding role, and assists the Convener/Organising Committee when requested. Members or organisations/institutions who are interested in hosting the 16th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW) in 2026 should submit an Expression of Interest by email to Len McKenzie, Secretary, World Seagrass Association Inc., at wsa.secretary@gmail.com no later than March 01, 2024.Expressions of Interest should be no longer than 3 pages and include the following:• Name of Applicant• Applicant’s contact information including physical address and email address• Proposed Hosting Institution (add a brief description)• Country and proposed location for the event• Institutional Support• Tentative Venue Details (conference, workshop and field trips)• Preliminary Proposed Theme• Travel & Visa Considerations• Health & Safety Considerations• Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity ConsiderationsThe WSA may require more detailed information in future before a final decision. If you require additional information or any enquiries, please email wsa.secretary@gmail.com   Previous Post January 15, 2024 ISBW press release updates World Seagrass Association

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