A new £1.8 million marine recovery programme is set to deliver the UK’s largest-ever seagrass restoration project, alongside ambitious plans to restore native oyster populations in Cornwall.

The three-year initiative, known as Mor Nature, will see 10 hectares of seagrass meadow restored in Falmouth Bay, while native oyster populations are restored across the Fal and Helford Special Areas of Conservation.

Mor is the Cornish word for sea, and the project represents Cornwall’s first seascape-scale marine restoration initiative. It is being delivered through a partnership between the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) and Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT), combining OCT’s experience in large-scale seagrass restoration with CWT’s expertise in native oyster recovery.

The programme will contribute towards government targets to increase seagrass coverage by 15% by 2043, compared with 2024 levels.

Mor Nature is backed by £1.4 million from Defra’s Species Recovery Programme, alongside additional funding from other partners, and supports the government’s Wild Again: Restoring England’s Wildlife campaign.

Led by OCT and Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the project brings together a wide range of partners, including Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall Council, the Zoological Society of London, the University of Exeter, the Duchy of Cornwall, Falmouth Marine Conservation Group and other local organisations.

Together, they will work to restore some of Cornwall and the UK’s most important marine ecosystems.

Restoring vital marine habitats

Seagrass meadows are among the ocean’s most important habitats. They provide shelter and nursery grounds for marine life, improve water quality, store carbon and help protect coastlines from erosion. They also provide important cultural and wellbeing benefits for coastal communities.

However, the UK has lost almost half of its seagrass meadows since the 1930s, with many of those that remain now in poor condition.

The Mor Nature restoration site stretches between Swanpool and Pendennis Castle in Falmouth Bay. OCT first introduced protective measures in the area in 2022 through Sensitive Habitat Marker Buoys and voluntary no-anchor zones.

The new programme builds on Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s existing work to map and monitor seagrass meadows in the area, while also expanding its network of intertidal seagrass restoration sites.

CWT will work alongside local fishers and community groups to establish new native oyster nurseries in the Helford.

By restoring seagrass and native oyster habitats together, the project aims to create healthier conditions for a wide range of marine species, including seahorses and sharks.

The restored habitats will also contribute to wider environmental goals, including biodiversity recovery, climate resilience and improved coastal water quality.

Seagrass meadows can act as natural carbon stores, trap pollutants and sediments, reduce harmful bacteria in surrounding waters and provide important nursery habitat for commercially valuable fish species.

Community involvement and new technology

Local communities will play an important role in Mor Nature through citizen science projects, snorkel safaris and educational events designed to encourage people to reconnect with their local marine environment.

The project will also provide an opportunity to test new approaches to large-scale marine restoration.

Funding will support a trial of robotic seagrass planters on a small section of the restoration site. However, the vast majority of the 10 hectares will be planted by specialist divers from the Ocean Conservation Trust.

As governments, businesses and conservation organisations look for practical and scalable responses to the biodiversity and climate crises, Mor Nature will provide an opportunity to demonstrate what large-scale marine restoration could look like in practice.

For further information check out https://oceanconservationtrust.org/