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  • Glossary item | 20 Mar 2025

Seagrass

Bioeconomy

Seagrasses are marine flowering plants able to create extensive meadows that provide habitat for multiple life stages of many commercially- and recreationally-important fishes, shellfish and other marine organisms, and are source of multiple ecosystem services, including nursery habitat, improved water quality, coastal protection, carbon sequestration, stabilize sediment, and reduce coastal erosion (Valdez et al. 2020 and reference therein). More than 70 seagrass species around the world are found in 159 countries on six continents, potentially covering over 300,000 km2, with more than 1 billion people living within 100 km of a seagrass meadow (Short et al. 2007).

Addamo, A. and La Notte, A., Towards an ecosystem-based approach in marine ecosystem accounting. Seagrass ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: from diversity to restoration, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, doi:10.2760/612075, JRC130756.

Source category: EC Technical Documents