Acronym DAME
Category
Aquaculture
Title Toward the domestication of seagrasses in Cádiz bay natural saltponds Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Jose Lucas Perez-Llorens Coordinator email joselucas.perez@uca.es
Coordinator institution
UCA - University of Cadiz (Spain)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2021 End year 2023 Funding (€) € NA Website NA Summary Seagrasses are one of the most important ecosystems on the world taking into account the ecosystem services they provide (e.g. biodiversity, fish production, coastal protection, improvement in water quality, primary production, and carbon storage, among others). However, they are also one of the most endangered with rate losses close to 7% per year, which reduces the quality and quantity of the ecosystem services they provide. In addition, if we take into account the climate change effects over natural ecosystems and human wellness and security, it is straightforward to understand why currently a great number of actions has been included into the international political agenda to reduce and mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases. Among the most innovative actions, we can find the use of natural terrestrial (green carbon) and marine (blue carbon) ecosystems as carbon sinks. The capacity to storage carbon at long term is at least ten times higher in marine than in terrestrial ones and, therefore, the improvement in restoration and transplantation actions is highly required. If we take into account that the blue carbon has been recently included within the voluntary carbon market, it becomes not only necessary but indispensable in the near future. However, the restauration and transplantation methodologies are still in progress, have a high economical cost and the relative success is still low. This project proposes a novel and revolutionary strategy, using the natural esteros (saltponds) from Cadiz Bay to cultivate under controlled conditions three of the four species inhabiting European coasts. This supposes the domestication of these marine plants which is totally revolutionary. Having access to such marine crops will not only make available a hatchery of seeds and adult plants that can be later used for restoration and transplant purposes, but also will allow to restore these singular areas (traditional esteros and salinas) that are currently most of them abandoned, and generate an economic flow based in the blue economy in this economically deprived area. Moreover, the design of new sowing and transplant units, the improvement of restauration protocols, and the training of qualified workers in the cultivation of these new marine crops are also goals of this project. On the other hand, these marine crops can also provide other goods bearing a high economical value, that can be (or they currently are) a revolution in some fields like the gastronomy (e.g. sea rice) or in cosmetic. However, both the increase in the area occupied by these species and the enhanced number of restauration projects may significantly increase the quantity and quality of the ecosystem services they provide. This will significantly contribute to reach the goals and agreements already signed by the spanish government regarding the carbon neutrality in the future years.
Keywords
Restoration;
Seagrass;
Marine Region
38
Portuguese Waters (27.IXa,27.IXb)
1
Marine Region Map
