European Rewilding Network
ERN2202

Seawilding

Community-led marine habitat rewilding - native oyster and seagrass restoration

Seawilding is pioneering Scotland’s first community-led seagrass restoration at Loch Craignish
Philip Price
Seagrass, Zoster marina, also known as common eelgrass, is an essential keystone species which sequesters carbon while providing a vital habitat and spawning ground for fish and other marine species.
Philip Price
Globally 92% of seagrass has now gone. In the fight against climate change, restoring seagrass is now a top-priority.
Philip Price
By the end of 2022, Seawilding will have trained over 60 community volunteers in coastal biodiversity surveying, baseline-monitoring, and native oyster monitoring.
Philip Price
Seawilding aims to restore lost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and to create green jobs.
Philip Price
Seawilding is pioneering low-cost, best-practice marine habitat restoration methodologies and empowering other coastal communities to do the same.
Philip Price

The Scottish charity, Seawilding, is working with communities to restore the keystone species, native oysters and seagrass, to Scottish inshore waters in order to restore bio-diversity and sequester carbon. Native oysters were once abundant in Loch Craignish, a sea loch located near Ardfern in Argyll on the west coast of Scotland. However, due to overexploitation and possibly disease, the native oyster has now all but disappeared. With only a few oysters left in the loch Seawilding are working to restore native oyster populations back to their former glory. Native oysters are ​‘Ecosystem Engineers’ and provide a range of ecosystem services and are vital to our marine ecosystems.

Seagrass is a vital inshore habitat for multiple marine species and 95% of meadows have disappeared from UK coastal waters. It’s important in the fight against climate change as seagrass sequesters carbon faster than the rainforest. With Project Seagrass, Seawilding is developing best-practice, low- cost methodologies to enhance seagrass meadows at Loch Craignish with the aim of rolling out these marine bio-diversity restoration schemes to other coastal communities across Scotland. The project is Scotland’s first community-led, involving volunteers, school pupils, the Ardfern Yacht Centre and academic institutions.

Specification Description Achievements Exchange
Project: Seawilding
Region: West Coast of Scotland
Type of protection: Priority marine feature
Habitat types: Native Oyster, Seagrass, Seabed
Type of project: Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Supporting wildlife comeback
Aim and vision: Seawilding, based at Loch Craignish, Argyll, is the UK's first community-led native oyster and seagrass restoration project. Their aim is to restore lost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and to create green jobs. Seawilding is pioneering low-cost, best-practice marine habitat restoration methodologies and empowering other coastal communities to do the same. 
Using juvenile native oysters (‘spat’) from Morecambe Bay Hatchery, the project aims to grow up to 1 million oysters in Loch Craignish to restore the reefs. So far, Seawilding have restored over 121,000 oysters to the bed of the loch in this way. Meanwhile, Seawilding has planted up to 1⁄4 hectare of seagrass in Loch Craignish – Scotland’s first seagrass restoration. This community-led, proof-of-concept project is a partnership with Project Seagrass and the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS). Their plan is to enhance the existing Loch Craignish seagrass meadows by at least ¼ hectare and to continue this work in the coming years.
Other activities: Community involved, Education, High-impact communications, Research
Results you aim to accomplish in 10 years from now on: Rewilding landscape scale seagrass meadows and native oyster reefs and looking at other priority marine features to restore, for example horse mussels and scallops.
Results so far: Over 121 000 native oysters were released and over 125 000 seagrass seeds planted. This is only in our first 3 years of the project for Oysters and first year for seagrass.
Inspirational value: Knowledge of Seagrass restoration, experimenting with different planting methodologies and materials. Working with communities and in communities, community engagement. Native Oysters growing in a nursery, effective size for reintroduction, experimenting with cluster and artificial reefing of Oysters.
Experience you would like to share: What is working and not working for us, how to engage in communities.
Experience you would like to gain: Any knowledge from other marine habitat restoration projects.
Map
Country
UK, Scotland
Start year
2018
Size (ha)
5
Area type
Marine: coastal
Flagship species
Other
Seawilding
Seawilding is pioneering Scotland’s first community-led seagrass restoration at Loch Craignish
Philip Price
Seagrass, Zoster marina, also known as common eelgrass, is an essential keystone species which sequesters carbon while providing a vital habitat and spawning ground for fish and other marine species.
Philip Price
Globally 92% of seagrass has now gone. In the fight against climate change, restoring seagrass is now a top-priority.
Philip Price
By the end of 2022, Seawilding will have trained over 60 community volunteers in coastal biodiversity surveying, baseline-monitoring, and native oyster monitoring.
Philip Price
Seawilding aims to restore lost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and to create green jobs.
Philip Price
Seawilding is pioneering low-cost, best-practice marine habitat restoration methodologies and empowering other coastal communities to do the same.
Philip Price

The Scottish charity, Seawilding, is working with communities to restore the keystone species, native oysters and seagrass, to Scottish inshore waters in order to restore bio-diversity and sequester carbon. Native oysters were once abundant in Loch Craignish, a sea loch located near Ardfern in Argyll on the west coast of Scotland. However, due to overexploitation and possibly disease, the native oyster has now all but disappeared. With only a few oysters left in the loch Seawilding are working to restore native oyster populations back to their former glory. Native oysters are ​‘Ecosystem Engineers’ and provide a range of ecosystem services and are vital to our marine ecosystems.

Seagrass is a vital inshore habitat for multiple marine species and 95% of meadows have disappeared from UK coastal waters. It’s important in the fight against climate change as seagrass sequesters carbon faster than the rainforest. With Project Seagrass, Seawilding is developing best-practice, low- cost methodologies to enhance seagrass meadows at Loch Craignish with the aim of rolling out these marine bio-diversity restoration schemes to other coastal communities across Scotland. The project is Scotland’s first community-led, involving volunteers, school pupils, the Ardfern Yacht Centre and academic institutions.

Map
Country
UK, Scotland
Start year
2018
Size (ha)
5
Area type
Marine: coastal
Flagship species
Other
Specification
Project: Seawilding
Region: West Coast of Scotland
Type of protection: Priority marine feature
Habitat types: Native Oyster, Seagrass, Seabed
Description
Type of project: Increasing interest in the wild through communications, Supporting wildlife comeback
Aim and vision: Seawilding, based at Loch Craignish, Argyll, is the UK's first community-led native oyster and seagrass restoration project. Their aim is to restore lost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and to create green jobs. Seawilding is pioneering low-cost, best-practice marine habitat restoration methodologies and empowering other coastal communities to do the same. 
Using juvenile native oysters (‘spat’) from Morecambe Bay Hatchery, the project aims to grow up to 1 million oysters in Loch Craignish to restore the reefs. So far, Seawilding have restored over 121,000 oysters to the bed of the loch in this way. Meanwhile, Seawilding has planted up to 1⁄4 hectare of seagrass in Loch Craignish – Scotland’s first seagrass restoration. This community-led, proof-of-concept project is a partnership with Project Seagrass and the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS). Their plan is to enhance the existing Loch Craignish seagrass meadows by at least ¼ hectare and to continue this work in the coming years.
Other activities: Community involved, Education, High-impact communications, Research
Achievements
Results you aim to accomplish in 10 years from now on: Rewilding landscape scale seagrass meadows and native oyster reefs and looking at other priority marine features to restore, for example horse mussels and scallops.
Results so far: Over 121 000 native oysters were released and over 125 000 seagrass seeds planted. This is only in our first 3 years of the project for Oysters and first year for seagrass.
Exchange
Inspirational value: Knowledge of Seagrass restoration, experimenting with different planting methodologies and materials. Working with communities and in communities, community engagement. Native Oysters growing in a nursery, effective size for reintroduction, experimenting with cluster and artificial reefing of Oysters.
Experience you would like to share: What is working and not working for us, how to engage in communities.
Experience you would like to gain: Any knowledge from other marine habitat restoration projects.
Seawilding
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