Seagrass Research
Let’s dive into our Seagrass Research Program!
What is Seagrass Research?
Seagrass Research is our program to restore seagrass ecosystems using the cultivation method to create a better seagrass restoration method in Bintan, giving a beneficial impact on coastal communities and providing more carbon emission storage.
Why is it Important?
Seagrass has a high capability of absorbing CO2, which can bury carbon 35 times faster than tropical rainforest and can bind it for millennia. Apart from its impact on carbon sequestration, a single acre of seagrass can support upwards of 40,000 fish and 50 million small invertebrates.
Because of that, we hope that through our seagrass cultivation project, we can contribute to carbon sequestration thus, potentially mitigating the greenhouse gas (GHG) effects and climate change, creating a better seagrass ecosystem in the ocean, and hopefully, also providing the coastal community an alternative source of income.
Why Bintan?
Bintan Island is known for its high potential for seagrass but unfortunately, this high potential is not commensurate with the ongoing damage, coupled with the low awareness to carry out restoration efforts to maintain and restore its quality.
Tourism in the coastal areas of Bintan island was also increasing in recent years. If the seagrass ecosystem remains in troubling condition it could cause negative impacts, both for the coastal ecosystem and the community.
We believe that this huge opportunity can be utilized in order to create better seagrass ecosystems and create a beneficial impact on the environment as well as on the coastal community.
How’s our Seagrass Research
Program Progress?
01
We monitored the Seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) seeds' growth for 3 months (1 cycle) in a laboratory.
02
We observed the survival rate and water quality in the laboratory during the cultivation period
03
We also moved and placed it in the environment to observe its growth there.
04
There, we observed the survival rate and seagrass growth in the planting area for the entire year, and the seagrass fruit or seed cycle of plants seagrass
Seagrass Cultivation Result
During the cultivation period in the laboratory, 60,75% of the seagrass seed survived and continued to be planted in the environment.
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In the second week, fungus breakouts caused the mass death of seagrasses and the cause of fungus breakouts is still unknown.
From the laboratory observation period, we found that the seagrass growth was stunted and caused by the seagrass density in the aquarium being too high.
What’s next from our seagrass research?
We have created a plan for the future of our program that consists of several steps to make our seagrass research program successful and beneficial to the environment and community:
Pilot planting and observing seagrass conditions in the environment
Cultivation cycle 2 with correction on light exposure and distance between seed cultivated
Prevention for failure especially regarding fungus problem