#ProtectOurBeds

Seagrass protection Ocean Conservation Trust

Supporting sailors to combat climate change by digitally mapping sensitive seabeds in boating hotspots around the world.

Our new global campaign, ‘#protectourbeds´, will help stop vital seagrass being destroyed. It’s about bringing greater awareness to water-users on where sensitive seabeds lie and encouraging them to minimise disruption by especially anchoring. 

Seagrasses combat climate change by absorbing and storing huge amounts of carbon, but are estimated to be the fastest disappearing habitat on the planet mainly due to avoidable human activity . While starting in the UK, the campaign is now looking for data partners across Europe and the USA for the next milestone of the project.

“The #protectourbeds campaign is collating geo-spatial data on sensitive seabeds and showing the information in the savvy navvy navigation app - providing sailors and water-users with a clear view of where seagrass beds are and alternatives to anchoring.

By mapping and sharing sensitive seabed locations with digital navigators, and the location of alternatives - eco-moorings - we can educate, inspire and encourage our sailing community to make more informed anchoring choices when out on the water. Making this data visible to those of us who can mitigate our impact when boating, across the world, is incredibly exciting and just makes so much sense to seagrass conservation efforts globally,” says Holly Manvell, founder of Clean Sailors. 

 

savvy navvy protecting seagrass beds     
   
Seagrass meadows store 10% of the ocean’s carbon and are key protagonists in the combat of climate change. They can be up to 35 times more efficient at absorbing carbon than rainforests of the same area and also provide a habitat for rare and endangered species. Despite the importance of seagrass, in the UK alone, we have lost nearly half our seagrass beds since the 1930s, mainly due to avoidable human activity.   
   
Users of savvy navvy will today be able to see the location of existing seabeds and eco-moorings around the South West of the UK in the all-in-one navigation app. The project will build UK-wide sensitive seabed data and then focus on European waters and beyond through the course of 2023-24.  
  
The #protectourbeds campaign is looking for data partners across Europe and the USA for the next milestone of the project. All enquiries and applications can be directed to Clean Sailors via our Contact Form.