Bottom trawling is one of the ocean’s most destructive but least visible practices: heavy fishing gear dragged across the seabed, damaging the habitats most people never see.
Then, last year, Ocean with David Attenborough showed audiences what that destruction looks like underwater.
“We’ve campaigned for years on bottom trawling, but we’ve never had the visual assets that Ocean has given us. This is the first time the world can see the unseen, and why it matters to them,” said Jo Coumbe of Blue Marine Foundation, quoted in the Impact Report published by Silverback Films.
And visibility matters. These underwater meadows store carbon, support marine life and protect coastlines, yet they are disappearing fast. Tourism cannot solve the crisis alone, but in places where resorts fund monitoring, restoration and local protection, it can provide a small but crucial line of defense.
Seagrass Is Disappearing At An Alarming Rate
“Globally, we’re losing seagrass at alarming rates, around 7% every year,” said Renald Yude, marine biologist at Gili Lankanfushi Maldives, in an email interview.
One would think that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are places where the seabed is undisturbed. However, Oceana’s 2025 report argues that it is often not the case.
In the United Kingdom, which Oceana’s report says has the fourth-highest seabed carbon damage in the world after China, Russia and Italy, 90% of marine protected areas remain open to bottom trawling in all or part of the site. The report also notes that up to 92% of the country’s historical seagrass has been lost.
The report says a full ban on bottom trawling in offshore seabed MPAs alone could deliver £2.57 billion to £3.5 billion in economic benefits over 20 years and be three times cheaper to enforce. It also points to Lyme Bay, where marine life increased 15% under partial protection, compared with 95% in areas fully free from trawling.
Estauries in the United States show a similar pattern of sharp losses. California’s Morro Bay lost more than 95% of its eelgrass coverage between 2007 and 2017, dropping from almost 345 acres to less than 15 acres.
Tampa Bay started as a restoration success story, but lost 5,411 acres of seagrass between 2018 and 2020, a 13% decline. However, conservation efforts continued.
“There are about 31,500 acres of seagrass in Tampa Bay, which is an increase of about 5% in the past four years,” said Dr. David W. Randle, managing director of The Blue Community Consortium, in an email interview.
“What gives me hope is that divers and local dive centers are uniquely positioned to be part of the solution,” said Katie Thompson, executive director of PADI AWARE Foundation, in an email interview.
“Divers spend time underwater observing environmental change in real time, making them powerful community participants and advocates for ocean health. Through restoration projects, citizen science, and long-term monitoring, the dive community can help generate the data, awareness, and local stewardship needed to protect and restore seagrass ecosystems for future generations,” she added.
Seagrass Is The Lung Of The Sea
Coral restoration is often in the spotlight, but seagrasses are emerging as unsung heroes of climate resilience.
“Seagrass meadows oxygenate coastal waters, filter pollutants, stabilize sediments and provide nursery grounds for countless marine species, which is why we describe them as the ‘lungs of the sea,’” said Yude, marine biologist at Gili Lankanfushi Maldives.
“These underwater meadows also sequester carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests, making them one of the planet’s most powerful natural climate solutions,” he added.
That value is not only environmental, but biological. Randle also noted that 70% of sea life spends part of its lifecycle in seagrass.
Seagrass can recover when water quality improves, nutrient pollution declines and coastal pressures are reduced. But its decline is a warning sign.
In The Maldives, Resorts Are Fighting The Aesthetic Battle
In the Maldives, seagrass has long been treated as a problem for luxury tourism. Resorts have removed underwater meadows to preserve the postcard image of white sand and clear lagoons.
“We’re only just beginning to comprehend the scale of the problem in the Maldives,” said Natasha Prokop, head marine biologist at the Maldives Underwater Initiative, during the launch of the #ProtectMaldivesSeagrass campaign in 2019.
“In a survey of 49 resorts, we found that 50% of those that have seagrass actively remove it — and those are just the ones admitting to it,” she added.
During the campaign, Six Senses Laamu’s Maldives Underwater Initiative and Blue Marine Foundation persuaded 37 resorts to protect more than 830,000 square meters of seagrass around resort islands.
Six Senses Laamu is leading by example. The resort’s marine biologists and divers at PADI Eco Center Six Senses Laamu now protect over 50 acres of seagrass meadows, a 42.87% increase from 2020 to 2022.
Six Senses Kanuhura also protects over 250 acres of seagrass and was among the first resorts in the Maldives to sign the #SeagrassIndustryLeaders pledge in July 2025, a commitment to safeguard at least 80% of their seagrass habitat.
These collaborations also helped produce the Maldives’ first national seagrass monitoring protocol, endorsed by the Maldivian government, which is using it to collect seagrass data across the country.
In Mauritius, Resorts Need To Move Before The National Safety Net Is Ready
“Across Mauritius, seagrass meadows are being degraded by coastal development, unregulated lagoon use, anchor damage, trampling, sedimentation from land clearing and the compounding effects of climate change,” said Flavio Joseph, marine biologist and sustainable development manager at Heritage Resorts.
Mauritius is developing a national marine conservation framework. However, much of it is still in its early stages, focusing on collecting data.
“Scientific surveys conducted as part of this project have already identified over 367 marine species associated with seagrass meadows in the Bel Ombre lagoon, including fish, invertebrates, and larger marine fauna, and have established Bel Ombre as a designated study site for the first eDNA survey of the lagoon’s biodiversity,” said Joseph.
The Bel Ombre lagoon, where the resort is located, is both a warning sign and a testing ground for seagrass conservation. “Mauritius is home to five seagrass species,” Joseph said. “All five were recorded in the Bel Ombre lagoon in earlier surveys. Recent monitoring, however, suggests that only four species are now detectable — a quiet but telling sign that these ecosystems are under pressure before restoration efforts have fully begun.”
In Vietnam, Seagrass Restoration Safeguards One Of The Rarest Animals
Six Senses Con Dao manages almost 970 acres of seagrass meadows that have become a sanctuary for one of Vietnam’s rarest marine mammals: the dugong.
According to its latest ecological assessment, approximately 8 to 12 dugongs have inhabited the resort’s 1.2-mile off-limits shoreline since 2024.
“Seeing dugongs continue to visit and feed in these waters reminds us how important long-term protection and responsible tourism truly matter,” said Tabyldieva Erkaiym, sustainability manager at Six Senses Con Dao, in an email interview.
Are Ecosystems Only Worth Saving When They Look Good On A Photo?
Seagrass will never have the instant visual pull of coral reefs or whale encounters. Much of its value is quiet and easy to overlook. And tourism has certainly a role to play, especially in places where resorts sit directly beside the lagoons and reefs that seagrass helps sustain. But I am glad Ocean with David Attenborough has helped make the unseen visible, giving everyone a clearer look at why seabed habitats matter.
