Assessment of Blue Carbon Ecosystem (Seagrass) around the island of Mauritius

Seagrass ecosystems have been recently acknowledged for their blue carbon potential. Blue carbon, is a recent concept used to refer to organic carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass beds possess enormous potential to capture, store and release carbon. These blue carbon ecosystems are considered important natural carbon sink sources. Unfortunately, seagrass beds are globally being impacted by multiple anthropogenic stressors from coastal development, nutrient enrichment, sediment runoff, physical disturbance, commercial fishing practices, invasive species, diseases, aquaculture, algal blooms and global warming. The result of seagrass loss worldwide is leading to a loss of associated ecosystem services, which makes it a contributing factor to the degradation of the ocean’s health. In Mauritius, the main pressure on seagrass emanates from tourism development in region where seagrass beds are cleared out for a more appealing lagoon to the tourists. Despite the study survey conducted on seagrass, there is a current lack of knowledge on seagrass species composition, density distribution and a knowledge gap on the efficiency of seagrass beds to act a natural carbon sink in Mauritius. The purpose of the project is to investigate the current status of seagrasses around the coast of Mauritius and to determine their carbon sink potential to further enabling the develop of management strategies, to formulate policies gearing towards conservation and rehabilitation of seagrass ecosystems in Mauritius and to generate blue carbon credit. This study would yield a map showing the areas of the distribution pattern and diversity of the seagrasses around the coast of Mauritius. Furthermore, it is also expected that during the fieldwork, critical areas with constant degradation would be identified. Long term seagrass monitoring transects will be established and monitoring will be carried out twice yearly. Overall, both the outcomes from the seagrass assessments and the determination of the blue carbon storage will give substantial data to determine the specific location and the targeted seagrass species to be used for the initiation of restoration programme after the 2 years. The project will also help in the formulating of national policy for the protection and conservation of seagrass around the coast of Mauritius and in national reports.