Thailand is placing seagrass inside 3D-printed shelters because animals destroy it before it grows

Biodegradable seagrass pod design. Credit: Walailak University Marine scientists in Thailand are placing young seagrass shoots inside 3D-printed bioplastic shelters because strong waves and hungry sea creatures keep destroying new transplants before they can grow roots.The trial is taking place in the waters surrounding Koh Lidi, two small islands inside Mu Ko Phetra National Park in Satun Province. Seagrass meadows in the area are vanishing under heavy environmental pressure. That loss has hit local fishing communities that rely on the meadows as a nursery for shrimp, crabs and fish. It has also devastated Thailand's declining dugong population, which depends on seagrass as its main food source. Unprecedented numbers of dugongs have washed up dead along the Andaman Coast in recent years.Shielding shoots on the seabedPast attempts to plant new seagrass have struggled. Young shoots are easily swept away by ocean currents, buried in moving seabed sediment, or eaten by marine life before their roots anchor into the seafloor.To solve this problem, researchers from Walailak University in Thailand and Murdoch University in Australia have designed a protective 3D-printed pod. Shaped like ...