The Life Recreation Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affEcting the Seabed (ReMEDIES) project is led by Natural England and will improve the condition of five Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) between Essex and the Isles of Scilly.
This will be achieved by habitat restoration and reducing recreational pressures. Promoting awareness, communications and inspiring better care of sensitive seabed habitats will be key.
An element of this is to improve the public knowledge of these habitats by applying the natural capital approach to describing the ecosystem services and wider benefits of healthy seagrass and maerl beds.
As part of this project, we are carrying out a natural capital assessment to describe the current and potential future benefits of seagrass habitat for five different protected sites (SACs).
The information produced will be used to communicate the importance of seagrass and maerl habitats in these marine protected areas and the positive benefits of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project actions to a range of audiences, from regulators and decision makers to recreational boat owners and school children.
The aim of the site specific assessments is to help local stakeholders to better understand the importance of these habitats on their own doorstep and the benefits they provide to their local community and beyond, and to encourage pride and ownership of these habitats.
You can view them all and find out more about the project at:
saveourseabed.co.uk/protecting-our-seabed/research/natural-capital/
Seagrass – Photo credit Fiona Crouch