The National Implementing Team (NIT) for the Seagrass Project in Sierra Leone on March 25, 2022 discovered a new seagrass location in the Seh Community, Turtle Islands, southern Sierra Leone. NIT comprises representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography (IMBO), the Sierra Leone Navy as well as the ResilienSEA/GRID-Arendal Consultant, Professor Salomao Bandeira from Mozambique.
The new seagrass location in Sierra Leone is the third seagrass discovery in the country since 2019, after Bumpetoke and Mania islands.
This is also an important discovery since the seven West African states (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Cape Verde) started documenting and monitoring seagrasses in the region with funding from the GRID-Arendal under the ResilienSEA project.
The Team took coordinates of the new site at Seh Island and proceeded with documentation of ecological monitoring parameters such as seagrass cover, shoot number, leaf height as well as seagrass area estimates. The average length of the new-found ranges from 9 – 11cm and covers a wide area of more than a quarter km.
Seh has thriving seagrass meadows and is a picture model for seagrass training and community engagement for Sierra Leone, But it’s highly threatened due to boat and trampling activities as well as plastic pollution.
“This is an impressive discovery which sends a clear message that with more efforts and monitoring in new locations, we will discover more seagrass in Sierra Leone,” said Paul A. Lamin, Project Coordinator and Deputy Director Natural Resources Management, Environment Protection Agency of Sierra Leone.
“This new discovery by Sierra Leone will better place the country in the right position in the world map of seagrass,” said Salomao Bandeira, from the GRID-Arendal.
Seagrasses are marine flowering plants found in shallow marine waters and in estuaries across the country. Together with mangrove forests which are abundant across the Sierra Leone estuaries, seagrasses are key marine habitats that sustain fisheries and charismatic fauna, such as sea turtles; provide coastal protection, sequester carbon thereby reducing climate change; oxygenate the ocean making it clean without pathogens; and buffer ocean acidification.
Within Sierra Leone, despite being only one seagrass species Halodule wrightii, there is habitat complexity enhancing the diversity and abundance of fauna observed within this expedition: fish, clams and other invertebrates. Sizable fish observed at the shallow water appeared significant in both Seh and Bumpetuk Islands. Expeditions members had the opportunity to learn about dangerous or need-care animals such as stingrays and sea snakes.
The Turtle Island lies in the south-eastern province of Sierra Leone. Its location is part of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of Sherbro River estuary.
The mission’s terms included discussion and assessment of ecosystem services as well as brainstorming on options to incorporate seagrass into national governance systems.
After the new seagrass meadow discovery, the team carried out informal community consultation about the value and importance of seagrass meadows to the community themselves, as well as carried out an open discussion on issues on seagrass conservation, and building a forum/network on seagrasses of both Seh and other sites within the Turtle Island archipelago.
NIT, already a multi-actor forum, will continue to monitor the progress of the seagrass comparing to its present status.
However, as the seagrass discoveries continue to unfold in Sierra Leone shiny waters, communities are on the high alert to put their wheels on motion to design protective measures that would see the protection of the marine grass.
By Ishmael Kindama Dumbuya