DAVID Attenborough's Blue Planet series focussed the nation's minds on the plight of our oceans.

Now video cameras are going underwater off the Cumbrian coast to see if our seabed can help us in the fight to tackle climate change.

With this in mind, Cumbria Wildlife Trust are playing their part in the launch of The Blue Carbon Mapping Project in collaboration with WWF and RSPB, to prove that our muddy Irish Sea is crucially important in a bid to protect fragile seabed habitats.

This mapping report means the UK is the first nation to map and estimate the amount of carbon stored in its seabed habitats.

And charities are urging strong protection for the Irish Sea as landmark reports reveal the amount of carbon stored in seabed habitats for the first time.

Marine habitats are at risk of releasing carbon when damaged by bottom trawling, as well as sea and coastal development, such as offshore energy.

Figures published this week by the trust reveal the UK has lost 90 per cent of its seagrass beds over the last century and in one area of the Cumbrian coast around 70 per cent has been lost.

Recent surveys show that around 127 acres of seagrass remains in the Walney Channel - that's around the size of 63 football pitches, but the trust says there should be much more!

And in a bid to halt the decline, here in Cumbria, the trust is working on an exciting project to restore some of these important seagrass beds.

Head of Marine at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Georgia de Jong Cleyndert says: “This key report shows the huge value of our Irish Sea seabeds and demonstrates why they need protection from damaging activities. We strongly support the call to governments across the UK to strengthen protections for these valuable blue carbon stores – including in Marine Protected Areas.

“Along with saltmarshes, seagrass beds do a particularly good job in capturing and storing carbon. While saltmarshes and seagrass beds occupy only 5 per cent of our coastal habitats, they store 13 per cent of the organic carbon – over 420,000 tonnes. Coastal vegetated habitats in the region accumulate up to 250,000 tonnes of carbon per year (18 per cent of the total). That’s a staggering amount!

“Here in Cumbria we’re working on an exciting project to restore some of these important seagrass beds in the Walney Channel near Barrow, thanks to funding from Ozone and the Environment Agency. We’re currently carrying out baseline studies of seagrass beds in the region, surveying their size and condition, in collaboration with universities across the North West.

“We’re starting restoration trials on the seagrass beds, to bring them back to their former size and health so they can thrive, along with the species that rely on them. We’re building a store for seagrass seed at South Walney Nature Reserve and training Marine Champions to help monitor and protect the seagrass beds and wider marine environment.

“Our surveying has included sending underwater video cameras onto the seagrass beds with Lancaster University students, and we’ve had help from Cumbria Canoeists and Lakeland Canoe Club to collect some water samples for environmental DNA analysis. We’re also working with Manchester Metropolitan University who are analysing the carbon content of the seagrass beds.

“A really exciting next step of the project is happening this week: with the help of some volunteers we’re about to collect seagrass seeds from healthy seagrass meadows, to plant in areas which need help, which involves lying in mud on a bodyboard! While this can be fun, if muddy work, the underlying message is serious: we must restore and protect these important seabed carbon stores.”

Dr Lissa Batey, Head of Marine Conservation at The Wildlife Trusts, says:  “The Government has committed to protecting 30 per cent of the sea by 2030 but the wider seascape is largely being ignored.  From vibrant seagrass meadows to cold water corals, our marine environment is not only rich in wildlife but vitally important for storing carbon and tackling climate change. 

“We are expanding the North Sea study to cover all UK seas, providing us with crucial data that can help determine how we can strategically protect our oceans for wildlife, climate, and people.” 

The report reveals that 15.7 million tonnes of organic carbon* are stored in just the top 10cm of seabed sediments – principally made of mud – in the Irish Sea and Welsh Coastal Region.

The Irish Sea and Welsh Coastal Region covers 43,112 square kilometres. This vast area is host to habitats that capture and store carbon, known as ‘blue carbon’. They include seabed sediments (made of mud, silt and sand), vegetated habitats (seagrass meadows, saltmarshes, kelp forests and intertidal seaweeds), maerl beds and biogenic reefs, such as mussel beds and honeycomb worm reefs.

Carbon is primarily absorbed by phytoplankton, which drift to the bottom of the sea when they die and are added to seabed sediment. The research analysed the storage capacity of just the top 10cm of sediment. Some sediments are hundreds of metres thick and contain millennia’s worth of carbon, so the total carbon stored will be far greater.

The Blue Carbon Mapping Project highlights how physical disturbances to the seabed, including from human activity such as bottom trawling, as well as moorings and offshore developments, pose threats to blue carbon stores. Disturbing seabed habitats can release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, worsening climate change