More than a million seagrass seeds planted to grow a new meadow in a Welsh bay
In Dale Bay, Pembrokeshire, Project Seagrass and its partners collected, processed and planted more than one million seagrass seeds across a two hectare site, the UK's first major seagrass restoration project. Monitoring now shows healthy mature plants and the beginnings of a meadow.
Seagrasses are flowering plants that grow in shallow coastal water, where their leaves form underwater meadows. Project Seagrass says these meadows shelter marine life, support fisheries, store carbon, stabilise coastlines and improve water quality. Many are shrinking by around one to two percent a year.
In 2019 WWF and the Sky Ocean Rescue programme funded Swansea University, Project Seagrass and Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum to scale up seagrass restoration in Dale Bay, Pembrokeshire, building on years of experiments with planting methods. The pilot, completed in 2020, collected, processed and planted more than one million seagrass seeds across two hectares. It was the UK's first major seagrass restoration project.
Monitoring shows healthy mature plants and the beginnings of a meadow. A seagrass meadow takes at least five years to establish, so the team keeps checking the site and plants extra seeds to fill gaps.
Local people are part of it. A Dale Seagrass Stakeholder Group of community members, water users and public bodies helps guide the work. With Dale Yacht Club, three visitor mooring buoys were installed away from the planted area, because seagrass thrives when anchors and moorings leave it undisturbed. Youth groups and the local school have joined seagrass and paddleboard sessions.
The team is also testing ways to plant faster, from machines that plant hessian bags of seagrass to underwater robots.
Bringing back seagrass restores shelter for sea life and protects the coast, and Dale shows it can be done at scale in the UK.
Source: Dale (Project Seagrass).
Written by the HappyGood desk from the primary source linked above and checked against it. Every story links its source. Corrections: [email protected].
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