Connect: GRID-Arendal Annual Report 2017

Seagrasses – prairies of our seas

“It’s our green seas, not the blue, that bring life to our oceans,” said Sir David Attenborough in the “Green Seas” episode of the BBC’s popular series, Blue Planet II. Seagrasses are the protagonists of our seas across the planet. They form underwater meadows and are critical to the functioning of healthy and productive coasts. Unfortunately, they are often overlooked and unappreciated.

Seagrasses provide many benefits, like water filtration, acting as a nursery and home for many organisms, including commercially important fish and shellfish species. Besides protecting coastlines against erosion, seagrasses retain large amounts of carbon in their soils and are thus important in the fight against climate change. At GRID-Arendal, 2017 saw many activities focussed on seagrasses that helped raise the profile of these important ecosystems both in our “backyard” as well as internationally. With the Institute of Marine Research, University of Oslo and the Norwegian Institute forWater Research, we led the first carbon stocks assessment of seagrasses in Norway. A project called “Blue Carbon stocks in seagrass meadows – SEAME” is a core activity of the Norwegian Blue Forests Network, a consortium of Norwegian organizations supporting the blue forests policy and research agenda.

GRID-Arendal produced an entertaining video called “Exploring Seagrasses in Norway” to explain the main field and lab activities of the project and provide information about the status of seagrasses in Norway. We were also invited to the First International Workshop on the Assessment of Seagrass Distribution held in Japan to lead discussions on the ways to assess the role of seagrasses in storing carbon in the Northwest Pacific region. The meeting included researchers from Japan, Russia, China and Korea. Last but not least, the British Broadcasting Corporation asked our in-house experts to provide scientific information on seagrasses and their role as one of the major global carbon sinks globally for its Blue Planet II production, a documentary series on marine life, released in autumn 2017.

GRID-Arendal’s Maria Potouroglou and University of Oslo’s Stein Fredriksen studying seagrasses near Arendal.

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