Are Seagrass Restoration is needed?

Seagrasses are important marine ecosystems situated throughout the world’s coastlines. They are facing declines around the world due to global and local threats such as rising ocean temperatures, coastal development and pollution from sewage outfalls and agriculture. The loss of seagrass habitat has numerous effects, including a disruption of estuarine food webs, altered species composition, reduced density and diversity of estuarine fish and crustaceans, and increases in turbidity and erosion. Seagrasses on the east coast of India, especially in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, suffer large-scale losses due to southwest monsoonal winds and northeast monsoon cyclones, which are prevalent in this part of the sea. Anthropogenic influences such as fishing activities, shell harvesting, trawling, and anchoring in seagrass meadows are under direct threat and impact climate change and ecological degradation. Rapid loss of seagrass beds interrupts the crucial linkages between seagrass meadows and other habitats.