THE DEEP UNVEILS NEW SEAGRASS SCULPTURE FUNDED BY WILDER HUMBER
Historically, the Humber estuary supported vast seagrass meadows across both banks, with dwarf seagrass covering over 500 hectares at Spurn Point, and extensive areas from Grimsby to Cleethorpes. However, industrialization, water quality decline, disease, and coastal squeeze led to a significant deterioration of these seagrass beds between the 1930s and 1980s.
Seagrass, the world’s only flowering plant capable of living in seawater, captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests, accounting for 10-18% of total ocean carbon storage despite covering less than 0.1% of the seafloor. Additionally, seagrass helps protect coastlines from storms and erosion and effectively removes pollutants from the water. In the UK, seagrass meadows are vital habitats for marine life, providing essential nursery areas for fish species like bass and sand eel, and bird species such as Brent geese.
Emma Stothard, the artist behind the seagrass sculpture, grew up in Kilnsea, near Spurn Point. Influenced by the wildlife of the Holderness coastline, her sculpture represents the native seagrass species Zostera noltii. She commented:
“Creating SEAGRASS for The Deep was a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness and celebrate how important our seagrass meadows are. The sculpture represents the little bags of seeds planted in the Humber estuary, which grow over time to create swathes of seagrass meadows that capture carbon and restore vital feeding grounds. We can help the environment by recycling our plastic bottles in SEAGRASS while learning more about this amazing plant."
Ben Jones, Director of Husbandry & Exhibition at The Deep, added:
“We are excited to unveil the new seagrass sculpture and recycling station on our site and look forward to visitors and passers-by learning more about the important conservation efforts happening in our area. With up to 12 million tonnes of plastic waste entering the oceans each year, impacting our marine ecosystems, we can work together to change this statistic and protect the environment by reducing the use of single-use plastic.”
An exciting new seagrass sculpture has been installed on the grounds of The Deep, thanks to funding from Wilder Humber.
This pioneering partnership between Ørsted and the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Wildlife Trusts has an ambitious 5-year plan to restore 40 hectares of lost biodiversity to the Humber estuary through the restoration of sand dunes, saltmarshes, seagrass, and native oysters.
The Deep supports Wilder Humber through exhibitions, education, and interpretation of these important conservation efforts.
This beautiful woven sculpture, which also doubles as a plastic bottle recycling station, is located beside the popular Millennium footbridge, connecting The Deep to Humber Street and other city centre links. The aim is for passers-by to learn more about seagrass and local conservation efforts while making use of the recycling station for their plastic bottles.
Martin Slater, Deputy Chief Executive at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, expressed his support: “Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is delighted to support the installation of the seagrass sculpture and recycling bin at The Deep as part of our Wilder Humber restoration project. Through the new sculpture, we hope to highlight the importance of healthy seagrass for our marine ecosystems and raise awareness of seagrass in the Humber estuary both as a valuable habitat for marine species and as an incredible ally in the fight against climate change."
Seagrass planting at Spurn Point (c) Cate Holborn
Seagrass Seed Collecting-014 (c) Finn Varney