Project Seagrass

The Project Seagrass team have been out monitoring our sites in South & West Wales and are pleased to report that there has been healthy recovery at our donor meadow in Llanelli where we gathered 150 Zostera noltei cores back in May 🌱 We monitored our three planting plots in Llanelli with all Zostera noltei transplants (75 in total) still present, with variable expansion. In comparison, our results from Cardiff showed few remaining Zostera noltei cores and that our Zostera marina seeds (gathered from our subtidal donor meadow in Porthdinllaen and planted by DIS back in May) did not emerge. We hope to understand why this isn’t working to inform future work 🌱 #restoration #fieldwork #seagrass

Today I took work on the road and visited my Marine Conservation Society colleague Kaitlin Magliano who is the Dornoch Restoration Officer based at The Glenmorangie Company distillery. Kaitlin does a brilliant job speaking to distillery visitors about the Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) which is restoring native oysters to the Dornoch Firth! It is a fantastic project between ourselves, the distillery and Heriot-Watt University. While I spent the day on my laptop doing my day job of marine litter policy we headed out together at lunch time to do a quick Project Seagrass Spotter survey and we think added the first records onto the app from in front of the distillery! At 5pm I then switched my hat to my Moray Ocean Community hat to help support Kaitlin with an intro to Seagrass surveying in Tain with a brilliant group of local volunteers - we could have chatted Seagrass for hours! Thanks to fellow MOC Director Francis Williams for the advice and expertise sharing with our friends Mossy Earth - I am really enjoying this learning experience with my Seagrass surveying 🌱🌊 Project Seagrass NatureScot Calum Duncan Prof. Bill Sanderson Hamish Torrie

🌍⚡️ How many incredible speakers can we fit into just two summit days? We’re at 150 and counting, but here are three you simply can’t miss: 👉 Romain Diaz from Satgana: Romain Diaz is the General Partner of Satgana, an early-stage Climate Tech VC firm investing in the next wave of planet-positive startups – 18 portfolio companies and growing! A passionate entrepreneur, investor, and pragmatic idealist, Romain is dedicated to harnessing business as a force for good. That’s the essence of Satgana, which fittingly means “good company” in Sanskrit. 👉 Leanne Cullen-Unsworth from Project Seagrass: Driven by a profound understanding of social-ecological systems, Dr. Leanne Cullen-Unsworth is one of the original founders and the current CEO of Project Seagrass. With over 20 years of experience in researching marine resource use patterns and sustainability, Leanne’s passion for seagrass emerged from realizing its direct impact on human wellbeing. An interdisciplinary scientist, she is committed to driving conservation and restoration efforts grounded in robust science. 👉 Andreas Noe from The Trash Traveler: A true climate crusader, Andreas Noe left his biomedical career in 2019 to inspire environmental action through creativity and adventure. In 2020, he walked the entire Portuguese coastline in 58 days to raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution. The following year, he rallied his community to collect a million cigarette butts, proving that small actions can create big change. In 2022, he built a bike from old parts and rode 2,370 km around Portugal, including to the top of Serra Da Estrela – carrying "trash" to promote a circular economy. Over the years, his initiatives have united a community of over 7,000 people. Join this powerful line-up of changemakers who will set the stage alight at the Beato Innovation District on October 2-3. 💡🙌 📩 Get your tickets at https://lnkd.in/e3vg9zsg #EthicalAssembly2024 #ClimateSummit #ImpactInvesting #ClimateTech #MarineResources #Seagrass #OceanPollution #ClimateActivism

📢 Two weeks to go! We're getting closer to our target but we still need you help! Donate to our Crowdfunder to support the development of an underwater seagrass seed harvester to speed up the restoration of seagrass meadows 🌱 Aviva Community Fund are matching donations meaning your contribution will effectively be doubled! Donate what you can today 👉 https://ow.ly/k02550To2MR

Scientists from Project Seagrass and Swansea University have outlined 10 Golden Rules to improve #seagrass #restoration in an Open Access Article published in the journal Plants, People, Planet, The New Phytologist Foundation. Rule 6 discusses the need to use resilient plant materials and future proof projects 🌱 Practitioners need to consider how to integrate future #climate projections into projects and adapt methods accordingly. To provide resilience to restoration sites, ensuring appropriate #waterquality is imperative, as evidence frequently finds organisms that are less stressed are more able to resist and recover from impact. Range shifts for individual seagrass species with respect to sea temperature are likely already widespread. Research from the USA indicates that the southern range limit of Zostera marina on the US east coast is projected to migrate northwards between 1.41° and 6.48° by 2100, resulting in substantial losses along the eastern coast of the USA. Climate stressors may also act more aggressively on seagrass at different life stages (e.g. seedling survival) and at different times of year, influencing when seeds can be collected and their abundance and viability. Read the full paper 👉https://ow.ly/aGQa50TcnVT #research #seagrass #waterquality #restoration #conservation

Welcome to Finn, Heather, and Grace who have joined Project Seagrass as our 2024/25 interns! Finn and Heather join us from University of St Andrews and Grace joins us from Swansea University. We're looking forward to working with you over the next year 😊

Over the past 3 years a major constituent of the SORUP project has been the development of a sustainable seagrass seed harvesting system. This year we took this to the next level bringing in some expertise from Sam Rogers and Edwin Towler at Tandem Ventures Ltd, but as always we need funding to support the project. Project Seagrass have set up a Crowdfunder page to raise the funds to develop, test and implement a third prototype harvester than can cut seed material and bring it up to the boat. If anyone could spare a few £$€ to support this project to breakthrough the bottleneck of manual seed collection to boost the levels of UK seagrass restoration (and who knows maybe the world!) please take a look. We are linked to the Aviva scheme where they will also match most donations- potentially doubling your donation! https://lnkd.in/eBCW9PjZ

Today's #SeagrassSpotter is from the UK 🌱 This photo of Zostera marina was taken by Andrew in Somerset. View the photo and explore #seagrass sightings near you 👉 https://ow.ly/O8Bu50T8LeA #SeagrassSpotter #citizenscience #conservation #marineconservation #environment

Join our CEO Leanne Cullen-Unsworth in #Lisbon on October 2-3 for the Ethical Assembly, an independent climate and social justice summit! 🌎 Get your tickets here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dxwrPwR About the Ethical Assembly: 🌐 Focus: A 2-day summit focused on systems change, catalysing climate and social impact solutions 🗓️ Key info: October 2-3, 2024 climate summit at Beato Innovation District in Lisbon, Portugal & October 4-7 for field trips and activities across Lisbon 👥 Who should attend: Corporates, NGOs, start-ups, investors, scientists, policy makers, activists, citizens and students 🔍 Key Themes: Climate science, decarbonization, circular economy, regenerative agriculture, energy transition, food systems, ocean health, ethical fashion, urban regeneration, impact investing, climate tech and so much more #climatesummit #systemschange #climatejustice #climatesolutions #EthicalAssembly2024

We've hit 50% of our funding goal! 💚 Every contribution brings us one step closer to creating a lasting solution for seagrass restoration through the development of an underwater seagrass seed harvester 🌱 But our work isn’t done yet! With your continued support, we hope we can reach the finish line 🤞 How you can help: 🤝 Donate via our Crowdfunder: https://ow.ly/21jt50TkQ5a 📢 Help us spread the word by sharing our campaign with others who care about protecting our marine environments. Thank you again for being part of this journey!