Thursday 23 February 2023

Underwater meadows planted to absorb carbon in Wales

Underwater meadows planted to absorb carbon in Wales

More than five million seagrass seeds are set to be planted off the Welsh coast to replenish the area and create a barrier to climate change.

In the last century, WWF Cymru estimates that Wales has lost 92% of its seagrass – which is why the decision has been made to begin planting it off the Llŷn Peninsula.

Project Seagrass will look to plant the seeds either using hessian bags or by mixing them into the mud below.

Bethan Thomas, who is part of the project, said: “We have got very short time windows. We have got to wait for the tide to go out. Once the tide has gone out we can lay out our equipment and then we can get our plot set up.”

To start with, 50,000 seeds will be planted – with the eventual five million coming after the outcome of the first batch has been realised.

Rory Francis from WWF Cymru said that just one hectare of seagrass could create a habitat for up to 80,000 fish. On top of this, he said: “It could make a real difference in terms of both absorbing carbon and also of restoring really valuable and important marine habitats.”

Project Seagrass is being managed by a partnership of WWF, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Pen Llŷn a'r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation and Swansea University.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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