The U.K.’s lost seagrass meadows to be resurrected in climate fight

Will the U.K.’s restored seagrass beds look like this someday? This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. “We think this whole bay was once carpeted with seagrass,” says Evie Furness, waving across the sparkling, sunlit waters of Dale Bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The underwater meadow is long gone though, a victim of past pollution and shipping. So from a boat half a mile from shore, Furness is feeding a long rope into the water, which carries a little hessian bag of seagrass seeds every meter. “We’ve passed the 800,000 seed mark now,” she says. Get Grist in your inbox Always free, always fresh Ask your climate scientist if Grist is right for you. See our privacy policy The Sea grass Ocean Rescue project will ultimately place 20 kilometers of rope and a million seeds on the shallow seafloor, where they will sprout through the bags and restore the habitat. Seagrass meadows were once common around the U.K. coast, but more than 90 percent have been lost as a result of algae-boosting pollution, anchor damage, and port and marina building. The meadows, however, store carbon 35 times faster […]

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