The Minister of the Sea dived into the Sado estuary this week and our researchers joined in a debate to warn about the importance of seagrasses meadows.

The organization Ocean Alive organized the initiative and invited the Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrão Santos, to dive in the Sado estuary. After the dive, during which the minister was able to see seahorses and the seagrasses, a debate took place with three CCMAR researchers: Rui Santos, Ester Serrão and Miguel Correia, that demonstrated the importance of marine seagrasses meadows for the ecosystems.

The researchers had the opportunity to talk about the decline, the reversal of this decline of seagrasses meadows in Europe, the management and conservation measures of coastal systems that led to this recovery, the importance of preserving the existing seagrasses meadows, given the difficulties that the restoration of these habitats presents, taking as an example the case of seagrasses in Arrábida.

The Biomares project, carried out by CCMAR between 2007 and 2011, was one of the first projects that our Center carried out in the Parque Marinho Arrábida-Espichel, precisely in the area where the Minister of the Sea dived this Monday.