A seagrass relocation pilot study was executed on the Addu City Reclamation Works where in 540 sods from the Maradhoo donor site were relocated to different recipient sites nearby.  Following the field works of May 2022, several monitoring campaigns were executed at pre-determined intervals to monitor the relocated sods.

Three monitoring campaigns have been completed so far – T0 (May 2023), T1(June 2023), and T2 (September 2023). During the pilot, sods of seagrass were relocated to three selected recipient sites (Feydhoo and Gan) and outplaced in three different patterns to study the effect of various outplacement conditions on the relocated seagrass sods.

The outplacement patterns used per location include:

·        36 single sods with 1 meter spacing

·        Clusters of 36 sods planted together; and

·        Clusters of 36 sods planted together with protection build by hessian bags.

The objective of the pilot study is to identify the most suitable outplacement pattern and site conditions for the seagrass species in Addu city. If the initiative appears successful, it carries a high potential for future seagrass restoration initiatives on coastal development projects in the Maldives.

Of the relocated single sods, more than 95% of the sods are still present at all three sites and of the sods relocated in clusters an average of 87% of the sods are still present. At most locations, there are signs of outgrowth.

As we complete the third monitoring campaign, these early results indicate that the degraded seagrass areas in the Addu atoll could be aided in their recovery by sod relocation. However, further monitoring campaigns are necessary to arrive at final conclusions. Van Oord plans to execute the next monitoring campaign T3 at 12 months post-relocation.

Below we share some pictures from the monitoring campaign of September 2023!