At the group’s first public meeting in Campbelltown, Kintyre Coastal Network shared details of their ongoing projects, including the regeneration of vital seagrass meadows, plans to survey and remove litter from beaches along the coast of Kintyre, and ideas for working with schools.
The group’s seagrass restoration project is part of Scotland’s most comprehensive seagrass planting scheme, funded by the Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF), which began in March. This project began in March and so far has involved an underwater survey of Carradale Bay using a drone and a team of divers to map the local seagrass beds. Once the project is underway, volunteers will be needed on land and in the water, and many signed up for this at the recent public meeting, perhaps tempted by the offer of free snorkel training!
The £2.4 million scheme will help to restore seagrass in Scotland’s seas, and has funded four projects across Scotland; Kintyre Coastal Network’s East Kintyre Biosphere; Mossy Earth’s Wilder Firths project; Wester Ross Fisheries Trust’s seagrass planting project; and University of the Highlands and Islands – Restoring Shetland’s Marlie Meadows project.
Seagrass is the only true flowering plant in the sea, and the meadows it creates are home to an amazing array of wildlife. It also locks away carbon dioxide, making it a powerful natural solution to the climate crisis. We are looking forward to seeing how this project develops!