England’s largest seagrass restoration continues in Plymouth Sound

Volunteers will pack 20,000 bags of seagrass seeds this month to help restore seagrass within the natural harbour. Research shows at least 44% of the UK’s seagrass has been lost since 1936.

This restoration work is part of England’s largest seagrass planting effort under the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES partnership, led by Natural England.

The partnership’s restoration lead – Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) – is carrying out 1 hectare of planting on 7 and 23 March, at Jennycliff Bay in Plymouth Sound. This will be in addition to the 1.5 hectares of seagrass planted there last year as part of the project.

It involves a huge contribution from volunteers, who will join the ReMEDIES partnership at the National Marine Aquarium (NMA) in Plymouth for 5 days of seed bag packing during March.

The 4-year ReMEDIES project (July 2019 to October 2023) aims to plant a total of 8 hectares of seagrass meadows – 4 hectares in Plymouth Sound and 4 hectares in the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation. In mid-March, planting will begin at the Solent restoration site west of the mouth of the Beaulieu River, adjacent to the North Solent National Nature Reserve shoreline.

Also on the South Coast, a ‘vital’ seagrass restoration project in Langstone Harbour unscathed after storms. The project to restore climate change-fighting marine plants in the Solent remains on track despite fears Storm Eunice and Franklin had destroyed it.

Read the full story of restoration in Plymouth Sound here.

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