Sept. 3, 2026 – The Rewilding Oder Delta conservation group began planting seagrass meadows on Germany’s Baltic coast this summer as part of a pilot project, a first step towards restoring one of the most valuable ecosystems in the Baltic Sea.
The initiative uses a technique developed by German company ZosteraTec in which young plants are first established on biodegradable textile ropes made of old seagrass, with the ropes then rolled out across the seabed. Similar to laying turf, the technique avoids having to plant individual seagrass shoots by hand.
The long-term ambition is to re-establish a network of marine habitats along Germany’s Baltic coast to reconnect ecosystems and create the conditions for wildlife to return, the group said in a Sept. 1 article. The Rewilding Oder Delta team will monitor the plots closely over the coming months and use the results to refine future restoration efforts.
“This pilot isn’t just about planting seagrass, it’s about understanding how these underwater ecosystems respond under real-world conditions and using that knowledge to shape ongoing work,” said Ringo Behn, coastal ecosystems coordinator at Rewilding Oder Delta, in the article. “The lessons we learn will be invaluable for scaling up marine rewilding across the Baltic.”
Work towards restoring seagrass meadows started in 2023 with surveys of remaining fragments of common eelgrass (Zostera marina) around the island of Ruden, off the German coast near the border with Poland, and an assessment of the area’s rewilding potential. The small-scale trial seeks to test whether seagrass can establish successfully under local conditions and whether the restoration methods perform as hoped.
While the technique developed by ZosteraTec showed promising results in more sheltered Baltic waters, the pilot planting around Ruden will test whether it can work in more exposed conditions, with stronger wave action an additional challenge.
Common eelgrass is a flowering plant that grows in shallow, sheltered coastal waters, providing nursery grounds for fish species including Atlantic herring, according to Rewilding Oder Delta. Seagrass also stabilises seabed sediments, improves water quality, reduces coastal erosion and stores “significant amounts” of carbon.
Much of the Baltic’s seagrass has disappeared as a result of nutrient pollution, climate change, fishing activity and physical disturbance, according to Rewilding Oder Delta.
Seagrass is not expanding and meadows are getting smaller, and bringing them back requires planting on a big scale, according to Behn. For the pilot project, the seagrass was planted in 20-square meter patches, and if the method works out in the wave-exposed area around Ruden, it could be used on a large scale in the Baltic, he said in a video posted by Rewilding Europe on LinkedIn.
The work is part of the Blue Stepping Stones initiative, funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt or German Federal Environmental Foundation.