Environment / Innovative project aims to revive seagrass habitats
A PROJECT to restore important local seagrass habitats has been launched by the marine science department of UHI Shetland.
The ‘Restoring Shetland’s Marlie Meadows’ project aims to restore 1.2 hectares of subtidal seagrass beds in the West Mainland over the next three years.
Seagrass, known locally as marlok or marlie, once flourished in shallow sheltered areas on the west side of Shetland.
However, seagrasses have been declining both globally and locally since the 1930s, and most of the seagrass beds in Shetland have now been lost.
It is the world’s only marine flowering plant, and its bottle green leaves create underwater meadows that are home to a wide variety of crabs, snails and juvenile fish.
This new project will trial transplanting plants from healthy meadows to sites where seagrass was historically abundant, hopefully helping recovery and enhanced resilience of the habitat across multiple sites.
UHI Shetland aims to collaborate with local organisations, residents and the wider community to increase the abundance of seagrass habitats, monitor existing beds, and raise awareness of this vital ecosystem.
The project comes on the back of funding from a partnership between the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund and SSEN Distribution, which is part of a new £2.4 million seagrass planting programme.
UHI Shetland principal Professor Jane Lewis said: “We are excited to launch this important project to revive seagrass habitats in Shetland.
“This initiative underscores our commitment to research that supports a sustainable future for Shetland’s marine environment.”
Project manager Dr Rebecca Giesler called it a “fantastic opportunity” to trial innovative restoration methods to revive seagrasses in Shetland.
“Our research into historical records has emphasised how much seagrass we have lost from Shetland’s coast over the past century,” she added.
“We hope this project will be the first step towards reversing this decline.”
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