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Happy Seagrass Awareness Month

Maria Potouroglou, GRID-Arendal

By Blue Forests Project

March 1^st, 2017

WELCOME TO THE THIRD MONTH OF THE YEAR- OR, IF YOU WERE AN ANCIENT ROMAN, THE FIRST!

On that note, March is the perfect month to celebrate the World's Oldest Living Organism, Seagrass!

Seagrass meadows used to be the ‘ugly ducklings’ of marine conservation, but in the course of a year, they have been brought to the spotlight several times and made it to the cover of both Nature and Science.

What are seagrasses?

Seagrasses have evolved from land plants when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They are unique plants that flower underwater (they produce the longest pollen grains on the planet!). With 60 species worldwide, they have colonized all coastal and marine areas, from intertidal to shallow and down to 90m (deepest seagrass reported in 145m), apart from the Antarctica.

Why should we care about them?

Over a billion people live within 50 km from a seagrass meadow, yet we know so little about them. Seagrasses offer a number of ecosystem services; They provide a nursery for juvenile fish and a habitat to lobsters, crabs, seahorses among others. Seagrasses are the primary food source for the world’s largest marine herbivores and iconic species- manatees and dugongs. They clean the water by filtering the pollutants. They protect the coast by trapping and stabilizing marine sediments, thus raising the seafloor.

Recently, the potentially large contribution of seagrass meadows and the other vegetated coastal ecosystems (mangroves and saltmarshes – the ‘Blue Carbon’ habitats) to global carbon sequestration and storage has also become apparent. Seagrass meadows represent the most important Blue Carbon store sequestering at a rate that is 35 times faster than boreal or tropical terrestrial forests.

What’s seagrass status in Norway?

Seagrasses are found all along the Norwegian Atlantic and Skaggerak coast (National Mapping Programme), from the northernmost county, Finnmark, to Oslofjord. There are records of seagrass meadows that were first registered over 100 years ago, indicating long-lived stands in stable conditions.

GRID-Arendal has a number of projects on seagrasses, both at a national and international level and our staff involved in these projects are very dedicated and passionate about their work.

We collaborate with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) in order to support the Norwegian policy and research agenda by raising the awareness on seagrasses and improving understanding of seagrasses in carbon dynamics.