Stanfree Valley goes to Porthdinllaen, North Wales to support Project Seagrass!! What a wonderful group of well-informed, dedicated and kind people the team were.
The UK coastline from the southeast, south coast at Solent, the west coast and as far north as the Firth of Forth is being restored by replanting seagrass meadows. The big picture sees 3000 hectares of seagrass restored in the next ten years!
Awesome stuff.
The shoots or seeds are collected just as we would collect seeds from a pollinated plant. The viable seeds are grown individually in hessian (biodegradable) bags and are then replanted at the later stage of growth on the seafloor by divers. It gives the seeds a better chance of germinating. The fundamental reason for the mission is that over 90% of the original dense seagrass meadows have been lost because of pollution and physical disturbance, and so restoration is vital to regain ocean health.
There are many key benefits, as with all green plants, so it’s just like reforesting. The healthy seagrass helps to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere (excellent carbon capture), seagrass produces vital oxygen via photosynthesis, the seagrass meadows help to support a wide range of species and is therefore key to biodiversity, seagrass helps to improve water quality and provides coastal protection by stabilising the seabed and slowing the waves. And therefore, seagrass restoration is essential for our coastline.
The day was sunny, the water was cold, and the people were great.
I found a crab and sea urchin!
We shall continue supporting this project in every way possible.
Lots of love from Stanfree Valley xxx
Stanfree Valley Preservation Group 