New restoration seagrass trials start in Cornwall to help climate change
Around 92% of seagrass has been lost in the UK in the last century
New restoration trials have begun in Cornwall to create meadows of climate change fighting seagrass and help promote biodiversity.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust has completed its first round of seagrass planting trials in the River Fal in partnership with Seasalt Cornwall.
The ‘Seeding Change Together’ project is using technology never previously trialled in Cornwall before to study – and hopefully expand – the seagrass bed found at the Trust’s Fal-Ruan nature reserve.
Sophie Pipe, Seagrass Project Officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: “We experienced record-breaking heatwaves and droughts last summer, in addition to an incredibly mild start to autumn and sudden cold snaps this winter.
"These extreme conditions may have affected the seagrass meadows on site, but it’s an unknown as to what those short-term and long-term impacts will be. That’s why our research is so important".
According to Cornwall Wildlife Trust, seagrass is a flowering marine plant that captures carbon from the environment up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. It also helps to provide habitat for marine life, fight climate change, help to stabilise the seabed to protect from erosion and clean surrounding seawater.
“Water quality is also something that may affect the health of the seagrass beds. We’re keen to study that in more detail on the site".
Sophie added: “We’re hoping to know more when the seedlings sprout in late spring or early summer this year. They could stay dormant for longer than we expect if there’s a temperature drop, or they could sprout early.
In the UK, around 92 percent of seagrass has lost in the last century due to pollution, disease and coastal development - as well as damage from anchoring, moorings and dredging.
It is hoped the results will help the team upscale their efforts, with plans of planting an area 10x the size of the one used for the first round of trials.
Marine experts hope the partnership project could lead to a restoration roll-out of the carbon-capturing wonder-plant across Cornwall - after around 4,000 seeds were collected and restored in the Fal Estuary at the end of last summer.
Sophie continued: “We are learning as we go! It is incredibly exciting to be doing practical studies of this kind for the first time in Cornwall. It’s not easy - seagrass restoration is an incredibly challenging task, one that experts all around the world have been working on and refining for decades now.
"There are still many unknowns, particularly for the species of seagrass that we’re focusing on which is only found high up estuaries.
"Despite our trials being small-scale and low-cost, we have big ambitions to restore many of Cornwall’s lost seagrass meadows using the same methodology. It’s only thanks to Seasalt and this brilliant partnership that we’re on our way to making this a reality".
The three-year partnership trial has £150,000 from Seasalt Cornwall - and the local charity hopes if it's successful the project could lead to large-scale restoration and planting of seagrass in Cornwall’s estuaries.
Paul Hayes, CEO at Seasalt Cornwall, said: “Seeding Change Together is a vital project for the UK’s seagrass restoration efforts and we’re thrilled to be helping play a part in generating this essential research. Climate change isn’t a future problem – it’s here and now - and it’s alarming that extreme weather may be impacting the planting trials.
“We take our responsibility to protect the environment seriously and are committed to accelerating the transformation of our business to create positive change within our industry. It’s essential that we can protect these vital habitats so that we can influence the options we all have in the future. I can’t wait for Spring and to see the next phase of the project come together.”