A seagrass nursery in Wales is at the forefront of a critical new drive to reverse devastating biodiversity loss in the UK.
With as much as 92% of the UK’s seagrass meadows lost since 1936, the project aims to grow and supply plants and seed for restoration schemes.
Based on a former aquaculture site in Carmarthenshire, development work is being carried out by Salix, an RSK Group company, along with Project Seagrass, whose work is supported by international environmental and climate change groups and counts UK band Coldplay among its patrons.
The partners are establishing the seagrass nursery on an inland site, supported by an Ofwat Innovation project. The UK’s goal is to restore 30 km² of seagrass by 2030, creating thriving seagrass meadows to increase biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and create cleaner, healthier seas.
Salix Technical Director David Holland said: “Without a reliable supply of local provenance seed and mature seagrass plants, restoration efforts will be limited.
“Growing seagrass at this scale had never been done before in the UK. We were the first nursery to work in this area, and the project is constantly evolving and expanding. We have housed all the seeds for Project Seagrass projects, and this year (2023/24) we are housing more than 1.4 million seeds from locations around the UK, which will contribute to restoration efforts.
“We have plans to establish extensive seagrass plants in outdoor ponds near our propagation polytunnel and are really pleased with initial successes and thriving adult plants.”
Salix is also growing freshwater pond plants and is the UK’s only nursery growing salt marsh plants on a commercial scale.
David said: “Alongside our own project work, we would like to use the centre to support and help others in their work to restore seagrass. We can do this by supplying seagrass seeds, plants and guidance to other community and institution-led restoration projects across the UK.”
Project Seagrass is a founding member of the Global Seagrass Nursery Network, which acts as an open-source guide to developing seagrass nurseries internationally.
Project Seagrass Founding Director and Chief Scientific Officer Richard Unsworth said: “As we lose our seagrass, we lose the species that make this habitat their home, including some of the UK’s largest commercial fisheries species that rely on seagrass meadows as nursery grounds.
“The Project Seagrass nursery is now the ‘go to’ for nursery developments elsewhere, with regular requests from international parties for visits to try to improve or set up their own facilities using the same methods.”
