Eelgrass (Zostera marina)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Eelgrass |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Zostera marina |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | L. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Assessed as VU in England by Stroh et al. (2014) due to a 51% decline in AOO and a 57% decline in EOO. The true distribution of this marine species is poorly known, however, recent studies have confirmed a dramatic decline in range and condition of sea-grass beds, historically due to disease but more recently due to nitrogen enrichment of coastal waters and disturbance. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recovery of seagrass beds will depend on mass planting/seeding of seagrass at existing or former sites around the coast. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | There is evidence that Zostera can recover once widespread pressures such as pollution are reduced. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | The work of organisations such as Seawilding in Scotland or the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust provide a model for the recovery of the species in England; for example, Seawilding undertake surveys of existing stands (with citizen science input) to map seagrass beds and assess condition. This is combined with ex situ cultivation of sea-grass and reintroduction an augmentation. This is currently happening in some English estuaries such as the Humber. 3rd action moved to sp comments as a constraint: Reduce water pollution in targeted areas. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Systematic surveys of seagrass beds using underwater surveys to confirm presence, extent and condition.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Cultivate sea-grasses using the techniques used by the Seawilding charity and other initiatives. This includes harvesting seeds or transplants form the wild for growing in laboratory conditions. Reintroduction/augmentation using best-practice from Seawilding and other initiatives. This includes mass planting or seeding of suitable sites.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 100 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.