Thousands of seagrass shoots have been planted in the Thames, marking the start of work to help transform one of the world’s most famous waterways.
Over the course of one week, conservationists collected nearly 1,000 cylindrical ‘seagrass cores’, tubes of mud containing multiple dwarf eelgrass shoots, from a healthy seagrass meadow in Essex before carefully planting them in mudflats in Kent as part of efforts to make the estuary more resilient to climate change.
One of the largest UK restoration efforts to use this method, the work marks the first step towards restoring a thriving seagrass meadow. Over the coming years, it is hoped the meadow will expand to cover an area of at least 1.5 football pitches.
Transforming the Thames
The work marks the start of on-the-ground restoration for Transforming the Thames, an ambitious ZSL-led project bringing together 20 partners to help restore the health of the Greater Thames Estuary and deliver wide-reaching benefits for wildlife and the eight million people who live around the estuary.
The five-year project brings together conservationists, local communities, government bodies and landowners, drawing on decades of experience to recover a rich and varied coastal landscape by 2030.
In doing so, Transforming the Thames will help improve access to nature, protect local communities against the impacts of climate change and support the species that call the Thames home, from Critically Endangered European eels and sharks to seahorses and lapwings.
Thea Cox, ZSL’s Transforming the Thames Senior Restoration Manager, said:
“Seagrass meadows are critical to the health of the Thames, and we’re thrilled to be kicking off our work transforming this iconic estuary by getting stuck in on the mudflats.
“We rely on healthy ecosystems for our own wellbeing, but decades of degradation and fragmentation have left the Greater Thames Estuary with a poor bill of health, and more frequent storms and marine heatwaves driven by climate change threaten the health of the estuary further. We know that it can recover, and are excited to see the Thames flourish as we work to restore habitats along its shores, make its coastlines more resilient to climate change-driven storms, and connect people with everything it has to offer.”
Why seagrass is important
Seagrass meadows play a vital role in the marine environment, providing essential nursery grounds for fish, food for birds and habitat for a wide variety of invertebrate species.
Seagrass cover in the UK has declined by up to 44% since 1936.
Declining water quality, disturbance and pollution have led to the widespread loss of seagrass meadows, threatening wildlife and increasing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
Areas of healthy seagrass meadow can still be found along the Thames. During low tide, seagrass cores were collected from existing meadows near Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, before being planted in Egypt Bay, Kent.
The team of conservationists and volunteers used specially designed wooden mudshoes to help prevent them from sinking into the challenging mudflats as they worked. Because the work could only take place during low tide, a hovercraft was also used to transport the team and their equipment across the mudflats so they could collect and plant as many seagrass cores as possible before the sites were submerged.
The future of the Thames
Thea added:
“This year marks ZSL’s 200th anniversary, a year where we celebrate all we’ve achieved so far and look ahead to a future where people and wildlife thrive together. As we work to restore these coastal meadows, we’re not only marking the start of an exciting new chapter for the Greater Thames Estuary, we’re also making that future a reality.”
To rebuild a healthy, resilient ecosystem, the seagrass planting will be followed by work to restore around 450 football pitches of six vital habitats across the Greater Thames Estuary: native oyster beds, seagrass meadows, saltmarshes, coastal grazing marsh, saline lagoons, and sand and shingle bird nesting habitat.
Working towards a 100-year vision of recovery across the estuary, the partnership is also tackling the biggest threats facing these habitats, including pollution, while working with local communities and businesses to help scale up restoration across the region.
This article was originally published on the ZSL website. To find out more about Transforming the Thames, visit their project page.
