Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n
This is the first time anyone has captured a video of \u201cseagrass fairy circles\u201d on the Scottish coast, but these otherworldly formations are currently under threat.<\/p>\n
Seagrass used to be so plentiful in Scotland that it had all sorts of uses, from thatching to fertilizer, but it has been on the decline for nearly a century.<\/p>\n
Efforts to restrict developments and harmful fishing practices while improving the quality of the water has led to a comeback of seagrass in some regions.<\/p>\n
In Scotland, where legendary cryptid Nessie<\/a> allegedly emerged, and the kelpies<\/a> of folklore supposedly run through lochs and rivers, it can be easy to believe that the mysterious circles of seagrass recently filmed in the Outer Hebrides were actually conjured by water fairies.<\/p>\n \u201cFairy circles,\u201d as they\u2019re known among the locals, have been seen but never filmed before. While aerial footage taken by Scotland\u2019s<\/a> nature agency, NatureScot<\/a>, shows formations that appear supernatural<\/a>, nobody really knows how they form. What is known is that Scotland\u2019s seagrass habitats have been on the decline for decades. Seagrass was once so common on the coast of Scotland that it was dried and used as mattress filling, upholstery, fertilizer<\/a>, and thatching on houses. Beds of Zostera marina and Zostera noltii were described as \u201csubmarine meadows\u201d and \u201csavannahs of the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n In the 1930s, overgrowth of the pathogen Labyrinthula macrocystis, which usually coexists with seagrass at low levels, took out a large part of seagrass habitats in Scottish waters with what was known as a wasting disease<\/a>. They never completely recovered. More Labyrinthula outbreaks ravaged Scottish seagrass in the 1980s, and with additional damage to the environment, especially an excess of nutrients in coastal environments where fish are farmed commercially, regrowing seagrass has proved difficult.<\/p>\n NatureScot is making efforts to bring back the plant that was once so abundant, fisherman actually had to cut it so they could maneuver their boats.<\/p>\n \u201cSeagrass beds are of high conservation value and perform many beneficial physical functions, including reducing tidal energy and coastal erosion, stabilizing coastal sediments, aiding the establishment and protection of saltmarshes, and improving water quality,\u201d a team of researchers from NatureScot wrote in a recent report<\/a> on the state of seagrass conservation.<\/p>\n Seagrasses are also needed because they sequester carbon especially well, a process through which plants capture carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and store it as carbon in biomass and soil. Emissions from fossil fuels, smoke from forest fires and the loss of trees and other plants from deforestation all allow large amounts of carbon dioxide to escape. Carbon sequestration<\/a> reduces the amount of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Seagrass beds also host diverse populations of organisms, especially in estuaries such as Solway Firth, and provide food for migrating geese. There is one species of pipefish that exclusively lives in seagrass.<\/p>\n The seagrass beds of Scotland have become a Scottish Priority Marine Feature (PMF) and are protected by a policy that only allows development projects and any other use of the marine environment if PMFs are not affected. Scotland\u2019s Water Environment and Water Services Act of 2023 aims to protect and restore bodies of water, and seagrasses are vital to this because they can reveal the health of coastal and estuary ecosystems.<\/p>\n Zostera marina tends to occur from the groundwater line to the mid and lower shore. It grows broader leaves in subtidal zones and narrower leaves in intertidal zones<\/a>, which is why it used to be thought of as two species. Zostera noltii can be found in the mid to upper intertidal zone and saltwater lagoons. While seagrass populations have suffered natural damage from pathogens and storms in the past, anthropogenic climate change has exacerbated the risk of adverse conditions. Both species are being threatened by pollution, dredge fishing, and invasive species of seaweed like Sargassum muticum<\/a>. Rising temperatures, stagnant water, hypersalinity, not enough oxygen and too much hydrogen can prime the environment for pathogens to thrive.<\/p>\n Despite seagrass having to contend with so many detrimental forces, and the Scottish population of Z. marina not having yet recovered from the worst outbreak of wasting disease, there has been some recovery. Z. noltii populations at Loch Ryan, Loch Indal, and the Firth of Forth are beginning to flourish again after water quality was improved. Solway Firth has also seen a recent comeback of Z. marina and Z. noltii after there was no longer dredge fishing in the region. Fishing that involves dredging has now been restricted in some areas.<\/p>\n