Restoration Works - Saving Seagrass Beds

  Restoration Works - Saving Seagrass Beds

 Seagrass restoration is helping to rejuvenate these “prairies of the sea” and create stronger coastal habitats for people and nature. Sometimes called “the prairies of the sea”, seagrasses are found throughout shallow bays and inlets around the globe. Helping improve water clarity, dampening wave action, preventing shoreline erosion and providing valuable nurseries and feeding grounds for fish and other marine life that support commercial and recreational fishermen. But seagrass beds are dying at an alarming rate – reduced by as much as 90 percent in some bays across the Gulf of Mexico. Globally, scientists estimate that we may be losing a seagrass meadow the size of a soccer field every 30 minutes. Scientists working with The Conservancy recently found that an acre of seagrass in some bays may produce as much as $80,000 in commercially important fish per year. Seagrass beds are most helpful to fish populations early in the life cycle when larvae are maturing into young (and vulnerable) fish… (read more: The Nature Conservancy) mages: Jeff Vonover and TNC