2026 - The Seagrass Consortium

January 2026

In 2026 we WILL CONTINUE OUR SEAGRASS restoration activities AT ALL THREE SITES: the nationaal Park Oosterschelde, le Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon AND l’Étang de Berre.

January was a dominated by administrative tasks as we prepared for the Kick Off meeting of Interreg NWE REBORN which runs from November 2025 through until June 2029. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is the Lead Partner for the project which brings together 11 partners from across 5 nations (Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany) to foster greater collaboration for seagrass restoration in North-West Europe.

February 2026

February began with the Interreg NWE approved projects seminar in Lille (10th-11th) before the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen hosted the Interreg NWE REBORN kickoff meeting at De Herdershut, from the 17th-20th February on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog. A summary of the REBORN project can be read on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration website here.

March 2026

From 17-20 March we planted our Zostera noltii seeds at our restoration site at Roelshoek and our Zostera marina seeds at our restoration site at Oude Tonge. Both of these sites are within the National Park Oosterschelde.

Then from 24th-27th March we did some further monitoring and baseline sampling of the sediment microbiome at our Zostera noltii restoration site at Batidou in the Étang de Berre. The sun was out so these new seagrass patches were producing a lot of oxygen bubbles! In May we will transplant further Zostera noltii seagrass sods into this site, and then will ultimately resample the sediment microbiome to see how it changes before and after restoration (e.g. first without, and then with, seagrass).

April 2026

A major focus for April was site reconnaissance for potential seagrass sites across North-West Europe as part of REBORN. First up was a trip to the Wadden Sea National Park in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany (left image), before later visiting Nieuwpoort (central image) and Oostende (right image), both potential future seagrass sites in Belgium.

May 2026

In the first week of May, as part of REBORN, the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen team hosted Juan Lugilde Yáñez from the University of Galway, Ireland so he could participate and be trained in our large-scale Zostera noltii seagrass transplanting methods in the National Park Oosterschelde. The following week, again as part of REBORN, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen then hosted Dr Riccardo Pieraccini and colleagues from the Universiteit Gent to set up a collaborative seed study – we’re together to optimise seed-based restoration for both Zostera marina and Zostera noltii. Finally, in the Étang de Berre GIPREB began their annual seagrass restoration weeks, aided once again by the Sea Ranger Service.