Maerl's Marvels

RARE SEAWEED 'BLUE CARBON' BED FOUND IN CORNWALL

(Image Matt Slater, Cornwall Wildlife Trust)

Researchers from the University of Exeter, working on a Cornwall County Council and Natural Capital Solutions project have discovered that a rare, ancient seaweed bed in the Fal and Helford Estuary Special Area of Conservation, is likely to have a massive carbon sequestering potential.

Amongst the largest of its kind found in UK waters, the vast marine life-enhancing bed of rare Maerl is around the size of 900 rugby pitches and is thought to be up to 4,000 years old. What's more it appears to be efficient at locking in carbon at an estimated 840 tonnes of CO2 each year.

The carpet beds of red/purple algal plants, which form hard, brittle, nodule shaped structures which have been described as looking like twiglets, are five times more powerful than seagrass or kelp in the area for storing carbon, yet Maerl was previously under-appreciated for its blue carbon storage properties. (Blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems).

Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology at the University of Exeter and research lead, Dr Chris Laing, said Maerl had not been considered a "valuable carbon store to date. It should be a key player in coastal blue carbon assessments which is an extremely important discovery for Cornwall where the extent of the Maerl beds are significant," he said.

Apparently Maerl only grows at a rate of 1mm a year and thankfully Cornwall Council, in partnership with local and national organisations, is now dedicated to safeguarding this valuable ecosystem.