A PROJECT has got under way in St Catherine’s Bay to protect an underwater plant that captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
The east-coast bay supports a wealth of marine life and is home to the largest site of seagrass on Jersey’s coastline.
The plant is recognised for its ability to capture the ‘blue carbon’ stored in marine ecosystems.
In an effort to protect the underwater plant and the biodiverse bay habitat, Ports of Jersey has established a working group with government marine resources officers, Jersey Marine Conservation, the Blue Marine Foundation and those who use the area.
The latest stage of the project started this week, and will assess the management of bay moorings and trial different mooring designs to study their impact on the seabed.
Louise Stafford, Ports of Jersey projects and environment manager who is overseeing the project, said: ‘We want to protect the marine environment within the deep-water site in a way that will be beneficial for everyone. One way we are hoping to do this is through the fair and adaptable administration of moorings within the deep-water site.
‘Studies have highlighted that traditional mooring systems and anchoring cause significant damage to the seagrass and erosion to the seabed by the mooring chain.
‘To help us monitor the effects, we removed unused moorings in the area. We then asked Jersey Marine Conservation to establish the extent of the damage caused and study the progress of the seagrass re-establishing within these areas.’
Emily Dow, Jersey Marine Conservation’s science and education officer, is analysing the seagrass in the bay as part of a dissertation project.
She said: ‘Despite challenging diving conditions, Jersey Marine Conservation has completed initial dive surveys across sites where the moorings have been decommissioned and removed by Ports of Jersey.
‘Data has been gathered on the size of the damaged seagrass areas, and density of the surrounding seagrass beds, including average leaf lengths and leaf numbers per shoot.
‘The regrowth rate in these areas will be monitored by dive surveys and supported by aerial footage and underwater towed videos.
‘This will demonstrate the rate of seagrass recovery we can expect to see when a mooring chain is not impacting the seabed.’
Not only does seagrass act as an important nursery habitat for many species, provide coastal protection and help oxygenate the ocean, it is also a key element for carbon sequestration, where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere.
