Turning the tide: Hong Kong seagrass project transforms mudflats into underwater grassland

Can planting grass in the ocean bring back marine life? On Hong Kong’s Lamma Island, researchers have teamed up with locals for a seagrass afforestation project. Decades of coastal development turned the seabed off Sok Kwu Wan into a bare, lifeless mudflat. Now, researchers from the University of Hong Kong’s Swire Institute of Marine Science are nursing a native seagrass species called Halophila ovalis, or paddle grass, so it can be transplanted to form marine meadows. Seagrass meadows help clean water, prevent coastal erosion and act as vital nurseries for the ocean’s young.