A mission to protect seagrass beds in southern England

 On World Seagrass Day 2021, our Sea Champion Clare from Plymouth shares what inspires her about seagrass and why she is studying sea beds in southern England to help us understand more about this marvellous marine habitat.

My love affair with seagrass began in 2011 when I was studying a Foundation Degree in Marine Science in Falmouth, a small town in South Cornwall. As a diver since 2004, I am fascinated with understanding what is in our seas.

I started volunteering with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust who helped me get involved with the Seasearch diving project, a partnership between MCS and other organisations. This national volunteer program collects species and habitat information from all around the UK. During these dives, seeing seagrass for the first time, I realised its huge importance to human health and wellbeing.

Seagrasses are marine flowering plants, located in shallow, sheltered coastal areas down to a depth of 10 - 15 metres. Extensive meadows are formed on all continents with the exception of Antarctica, but there has been a global decrease of seagrass due to threats. These include anchoring and mooring of boats, decreasing light and water clarity and water temperature increases due to climate change.

Seagrasses provide significant functions including carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and storage, stabilising sediment underwater, and they are a spawning habitat and nursery ground for important commercial fish species. Seagrass beds in the UK are a perfect environment for a wide variety of protected species, including the short-snouted seahorse and the spiny/long snouted seahorse.

Inspired by seagrass, in 2012 I took on a project looking at the seagrass found in Fowey Harbour. A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) survey and a Scuba Diving survey discovered that the bed seemed to be thriving, healthy and home to many different marine creatures. My project helped local community members to understand the importance of their seagrass habitats and why we should be looking after them.

To celebrate World Seagrass Day, I am sharing with you my exciting Masters research project at the University of Plymouth. My project will focus on one species of seagrass found in the UK, common eelgrass (Zostera marina). It aims to provide key information about the extent of three seagrass beds (two in Cornwall and one in the Isle of Wight). I’ll examine which species can be found at each location and will also research the laws protecting seagrass.

Coastal seas near to seagrass beds are often heavily used for swimming, kayaking, and boating. The management and restoration of damaged seagrass is essential to lessen the effect of climate change and provide a suitable habitat for marine species. I will be collaborating with the Marine Conservation Society, the Ocean Conservation Trust and Natural England to look at water uses in each of the chosen areas and to see if, together we can find ways to manage these uses so we can enjoy the sea but also allow our seagrass to grow and flourish!

I hope to get out on the water (doing ROV surveys), under the water (scuba diving) and near the water (checking out how people are using coastal seas) during late spring and summer 2021. So, I will be back with an update soon.

 

Led by Natural England in partnership with Marine Conservation Society, Ocean Conservation Trust, Plymouth City Council/Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Royal Yachting Association the LIFE ReMEDIES Project which has been made possible with the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Union

 

 

Reflections on rubbish: cleaning up during coronavirus

In these grim coronavirus dominated days it’s easy to lose hope, bound, not just by four walls, but mentally shut-in too. It can feel a bit rubbish!

Jo Earlam, Marine Conservation Society Outstanding Achievement Award Winner 2020, reflects on the bright spots in a tumultuous year

An increase in rubbish in the countryside has been one of the impacts of lockdown life. More people out walking, eating in the open air instead of in pubs and cafes, leaving behind strewn coffee cups, discarded drinks cans and an array of plastic, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, and bottles, as well as the tell-tale signs of epidemic living, plastic gloves, and disposable face masks.

But disposing of these single use items does not mean throwing in a hedge, hurling from a car window, or casually dropping underneath benches. It means disposing of them in a bin.

Like a lot of people, I’ve become so disturbed by the increasing amount of rubbish that I’ve decided to do something positive to redress it – inspired by the Marine Conservation Society’s Litter Quest, source to sea approach to tackling litter.

This January on six separate litter picking outings, of between 30 minutes to two hours, I’ve picked up more than 10kgs of rubbish, in a radius of two miles around my village. They’re routes I walk regularly with my dog and to enjoy them, even for a short time, without litter blighting my view, I feel better.

Through social media posts of my finds, I discovered others are doing the same, including an intensive care nurse and her emergency department husband, who clear up litter on their days off from frontline NHS work.

Saving lives one day, saving the planet the next.

That’s not rubbish. That’s amazing.

Thanks Lisette and Clinton Johnston for inspiring me.

Really you are the Outstanding Achievers.

You, and the army of community litter pickers out there, who spread hope.

Already we have a local group going, the Eager Beavers, and litter pickers have been supplied by Knights Farm Shop, who’s land borders the River Otter where the beavers live.

We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our world.