Seeding Change Together Project Exceeds Expectations

A year ago, we launched our Seeding Change Together partnership project with Cornwall Wildlife Trust with the aim of restoring climate change-fighting marine plants in Cornwall. Around 4,000 seeds were collected from healthy seagrass meadows in the Fal Estuary and planted using three different methods on the mudflats at the Fal-Ruan nature reserve. 

“We have seedlings growing in all three of our trials, which have gone beyond our hopes and expectations for our first year,” says Sophie Pipe, the Seagrass Project Officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust. “It is early days, and the seedlings still have the challenge of surviving through what is projected to be another hot summer, but it is a fantastic start.” 

The £150,000 contributed by Seasalt to the project has helped to fund testing equipment that has never previously been used on Cornish shores, helping scientists to understand how water quality is affecting the seagrass. 

Seagrass is a flowering marine plant that has the potential to capture carbon from the environment up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. It also provides a habitat for marine life, cleans surrounding seawater and helps to protect the coast from erosion.  

In the UK, approximately 92% of seagrass was lost in the last century. The huge decline has been caused by pollution, disease and coastal development. Additionally, damage from anchoring, moorings and dredging has impacted the country’s seagrass beds. 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Fal-Ruan nature reserve is home to dwarf eelgrass, one of two species of seagrass found in Cornish waters. Surveys were carried out last July to assess the size and health of its existing seagrass meadows.  

Since then, a small group of volunteers – including members of the Seasalt team – have contributed over 120 hours to the project by collecting and planting seeds. They use bodyboards on the mud to hold their weight when moving around the site, minimising any disturbance to the delicate seagrass. 

Sophie says, “These positive results give us a fantastic foundation to learn and build upon. Due to this initial success, we intend to expand with two further methods for small scale restoration trials.” 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust hopes the project could lead to large-scale restoration and planting of seagrass in Cornwall’s estuaries.

To find out more about seagrass and our Seeding Change Together restoration project, vist cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/seagrass