Seasearch Projects - Eelgrass project

Last year, Cornwall Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Environment Agency, carried out surveys in Mounts Bay and St. Austell Bay for eelgrass, Zostera marina. The report of this survey work can be downloaded here.

Download Eelgrass Bed Survey Report, St. Austell Bay & Mounts Bay, Cornwall 2005 in PDF format (366kb)

Eelgrass bed - photograph Paul Kay

Eelgrass is an underwater flowering plant, not a seaweed, and occurs on sand/gravel/mud seabeds, in shallow water sheltered from currents and strong tides. The plant is nationally scarce with populations still recovering from a disease that affected numbers in the 1920s and 30s. Eelgrass beds are important habitats as they increase the rate of sedimentation and decrease coastal erosion. They also act as a nursery ground for commercially important fish species and are habitats for invertebrates such as cuttlefish, seahares and crabs.