Photos capture mission to rescue seagrass meadows in the the Baltic

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Angela Stevenson, 39, a marine scientist for GEOMAR, dives with a bunch of flowering seagrass she has collected, in Laboe, Germany July 10, 2023. The group of scientists collect seeds for research into planting the seeds and breeding a more heat resistant seagrass for the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. "Scientists ask questions about the environment and the society and solve problems in a systematic way. But teaching citizens and the implementation of the method is not necessarily our job. But then I asked myself, who else is going to do this?" said Stevenson. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER SEAGRASS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES - RC2B02ADN7P3 — Angela Stevenson dives with a bunch of flowering seagrass she has collected

REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

THESE researchers from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, are on a mission to rescue a crucial marine ecosystem that is being lost to climate change: seagrass meadows. Seagrass helps the ocean store carbon dioxide and is a key source of food and shelter for marine life, but a third of European seagrass has vanished since the 19th century.

The idea behind SeaStore – the joint seagrass restoration project involving GEOMAR – is to breed a version that is more resistant to rising sea temperatures, in the hope this will help the meadows flourish again. Flowering seagrass is collected from the Baltic Sea off northern Germany and cultivated in the lab until the seeds are ready to be harvested and planted.

A marine scientist for GEOMAR snorkels back to the boat after collecting flowering seagrass to harvest the seeds, in Laboe, Germany, July 17, 2023. Europe alone lost one third of its seagrass areas between the 1860s and 2016, one 2019 study found, releasing carbon into the atmosphere and speeding up global warming. While there are other initiatives to restore the plants worldwide, the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project in Kiel, run by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research is one of the first that aims to enable citizens to do so autonomously. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER SEAGRASS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES - RC2Y42AEN293 — A marine scientist for GEOMAR snorkels back to the boat

REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

So far, it has been “very successful… the plants are healthy and growing well”, says GEOMAR researcher Angela Stevenson, shown in the main image collecting seagrass. Another researcher can be seen snorkelling in the second image, while the image below that is of Stevenson at a citizen diving course, where locals are being recruited and trained to help with the project.

Angela Stevenson, 39, a marine scientist for GEOMAR, holds a bundle of seagrass shoots during a two-day citizen diver course in Maasholm, Northern Germany, July 2, 2023. The citizen diver course is part of the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project at GEOMAR and is one of the first initiatives to teach and enable citizens to restore seagrass autonomously. Stevenson guided the citizen divers to plant 2,500 shoots during the weekend. "Our aim is to scale it up after this pilot period," said Stevenson. "The ultimate goal is to re-green the Baltic Sea." REUTERS/Lisi Niesner SEARCH "NIESNER SEAGRASS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC21V1AWW2UZ

The images below show: PhD student Isabella Provera at the lab, tubes of samples to analyse the meadows’ development, a student preparing seagrass for analysis and GEOMAR researcher Tadhg O Corcora studying samples.

LEFT: Isabella Provera, a PhD student, lifts flowering seagrass after washing it, in the lab at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, July 10, 2023. The collected seagrass remains in a tank at the lab for around six weeks until seeds can be harvested. RTSLVJTQ RIGHT: Seagrass blades are placed in tubes in Gelting, Northern Germany, June 20, 2023. Scientists take samples to analyse the development of a seagrass meadow a year after planting for the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. RTSLVJUF — LEFT: Isabella Provera, in the lab at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research RIGHT: Seagrass blades are placed in tubes

REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

GEOMAR’s Thorsten Reusch says that, despite the hype, to ensure SeaStore isn’t a “big missed opportunity”, more funding is needed to ensure the project succeeds and to get more citizens involved in ocean science.