The Blue Meadows Approach

We identify seagrass meadows where human activity is a major reason for their poor condition or decline. Then, partnering with Harbour Authorities, we define areas for protection and mark them with Blue Meadows buoys, to clearly define the area to water users.

We also install low impact eco-moorings, which are used as an alternative to boats anchoring, removing a major cause of seagrass damage. Working with local communities we raise awareness of the importance of seagrass and what we can do to look after it.

By marking seagrass meadows with marker buoys, we are showing where they are located, so human disturbance can be minimised. This will allow seagrass meadows to recover and naturally regenerate.

Each of our Blue Meadows sites is monitored over a minimum of 3 years by our very own dive team. We measure meadow health and growth, monitor the biodiversity found and take carbon cores to provide estimates of stored carbon.

We are also working on refining a holistic process to enable large-scale seagrass restoration. To do this we have constructed a 400 square metre purpose-built facility for plant aquaculture. It’s the largest seagrass nursery site in England!

Scaled restoration of seagrass meadows is hampered by multiple factors, including lack of seeds, poor germination rates, plants only flowering once a year and the high cost of seed collection. Our research programme aims to tackle these problems.