Posidonia Reborns Golfo Aranci’s Waters 0 Comments

From this page, we had already introduced you to The Posidonia, not an "seaweed" but to all intents and purposes a plant, with stem, leaves and roots and seeds to reproduce. And this is in fact the news that we are pleased to give: a Posidonia forest is reborn in the waters of Golfo Aranci.

For us at the Gabbiano Azzurro Hotel & Suites it is a point of intimate pride knowing that the sea in which our guests swim and dive will be healthier and that this commendable project from all points of view has started right in our Golfo Aranci, and we hope can be copied and duplicated indefinitely.

The aim is to reintegrate the Posidonia meadow now in the Gulf, and in the Mediterranean Sea later, with zero impact, using the live seedlings found on the beaches, cuttings recovered from plants uprooted by storm surges. These, after recovery, are distributed in boxes of biodegradable coconut fibre mats, fixed to the seabed. It is a marine reforestation project supported by Worldrise Onlus and ZeroCO2 which aims each year to reforest 100 square meters of Posidonia meadows in Golfo Aranci with seedlings that replenish the areas being damaged by trawling and anchorages.

As told by Mariasole Bianco, expert scientist in marine environment conservation, naturalistic populariser and president and co-founder of Worldrise Onlus, whom we have already met in the SEATY project in Golfo Aranci, the photosynthesis activity of Posidonia can absorb CO2 and produce oxygen. One square meter of Posidonia can generate up to 20 litres of oxygen per day, therefore only the 20 square meters planted (thanks to the support of Coopservice and Servizi Italia) will produce 146,000 litres of oxygen every year and this will counteract the damage caused by climate change and the whole ecosystem will benefit. 2 square meters of sea forest prairie release the oxygen equivalent of an adult tree every day.

Furthermore, the banquette, the clusters of Posidonia on the beach, protect the coasts from erosion because the force of the wave, that would discharge directly onto the beach, downloads instead onto the banquette without damage.

Golfo Aranci was chosen for this project because it represents an extraordinary biodiversity hotspot, both in terms of marine flora and fauna: the Posidonia meadows present are home to more than 400 plant species and a thousand animal species, a sort of nursery where they find shelter from predators.

The entire Mediterranean must be protected and helped because, despite occupying only 1% of the earth's surface, it is home to at least 17,000 species, a concentration 10 times higher than the world average.

The acidification of the waters, due to the high absorption of carbon dioxide, endangers marine flora and fauna with the consequent disappearance of biodiversity. An example that can be understood immediately are corals that bleach and die from the loss of the algae living on them. Therefore, increasing the oxygen in the water using nature itself, in our case the reforestation of Posidonia, is the most effective weapon you can think of.

“I sensed the Posidonia scent of this sea. The most unique perfume in the world.” (Cit.)

Written by Daniela Toti