Environmentally-friendly moorings trialed to protect sea floor off Jersey's coast

Traditional moorings have been dragging against the seagrass beds, causing bare patches to appear. Credit: Ports of Jersey

Environmentally-friendly moorings have been installed off the coast of Jersey in a new trial to protect the sea bed.

The project aims to restore the island's largest area of seagrass in St Catherine's Bay, as traditional moorings have been churning up the sea bed, leaving large bare patches.

Seagrass contains blue carbon, which absorbs 35 times more carbon than tropical rainforests, so it's important to protect.

The three types trial moorings have been designed to tolerate Jersey's 12-metre tidal range whilst protecting the sea floor.

Similar moorings have been used off the coast of Australia and the Mediterranean, but those have not been designed to cope with such an extreme tide.

The moorings have been installed today (18 April) and will be monitored to observe how they sit within the water column and how they interact with the sea floor.

The Head of Maritime Operations, Louise Stafford, said: “Our project aims to prevent the damage caused by traditional moorings and anchoring by trialing new mooring systems which protect the seagrass and prevent erosion.

"Hopefully we can then deploy the successful system to all boat-owners in St Catherine’s Bay.”