What do people know about seagrass?
Quite a bit, as it turns out…
It may seem like the only people able to take part in Ocean habitat restoration and protection are marine biologists and researchers—but, here at the Ocean Conservation Trust, we believe that the best way to look after our Oceans is if everyone is doing their part.
That’s why OCT’s seagrass team recently conducted a survey to see how much the public know about seagrass, the hugely important oceanic plant at the centre of one of our key projects: Blue Meadows. The Blue Meadows community engagement programme is looking to connect communities to their local seagrass meadows and empower them to take action for its protection. The results of the survey will take us a step closer to addressing the general public’s barriers to involvement in seagrass conservation.
What do people know about seagrass?
Over 16 months, the seagrass team collected 3000 responses to the survey, which asked questions that ranged from “Do you know what seagrass is?” to “How does seagrass make you feel?”. The results indicated that the public is more engaged with seagrass than you might think.
91% of respondents wrote that they had previously heard about seagrass, and 68% were even able to correctly identify seagrass. On top of that, nearly all respondents were aware that seagrass is present in British waters, and 67% were aware that seagrass is declining in the UK. Respondents were also generally able to identify the main threats to seagrass meadows, with “climate change”, “water quality”, and “anchoring/boating in shallow water” as the top three selected answers.
People most commonly interact with seagrass by swimming, snorkelling or seeing it washed up on the beach—and when interacting with seagrass, the majority of respondents (62%) experienced positive emotions. But only half of respondents had experienced seagrass first-hand, which takes us to one of the key findings of the survey.
The survey showed that the most identified barrier to seagrass interaction was “not having enough time to experience seagrass meadows”, followed by “no access to seagrass meadows”. In fact, most respondents’ experiences of seagrass came from watching documentaries or cartoons on television, with “aquariums” and “formal education” coming in second and third.
However, when asked whether participants agreed with a series of questions focused on both the ecological and cultural values of seagrass, participants showed a deep respect for both seagrass and the Ocean. A majority of people were able to link seagrass meadows to both the health of the Ocean and their own wellbeing, reflecting a societal need to protect seagrass meadows.
Where do we go from here?
The survey results showed that most people have some knowledge of seagrass and that a majority of people already care about it. One question on the survey asked what would inspire people to become more involved in seagrass meadows, and the top answers were: “learning more about seagrass” and “seagrass events”.
Given that a lack of time and not living near the Ocean were the biggest barriers identified by the survey, the seagrass team concluded that they should develop and expand their digital engagement offering and offer a wider range of accessible activities (for example activities that do not involve entering the water).
The team is also aiming to increase the number of seagrass events held across Blue Meadows sites, incorporating a wide range of activities that might encourage deeper connections to seagrass meadows.
Overall, the responses point to a bright future for seagrass, and a clear way forward for the Blue Meadows community engagement team.
