{
  "id": 801005,
  "title": "The race to save Maine’s seagrass meadows",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/the-race-to-save-maines-seagrass-meadows",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-13T19:23:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Associated Press",
    "slug": "associated-press",
    "url": "https://apnews.com/article/maine-eelgrass-meadows-casco-bay-conservation-588a321999670ee4d1d3436588823af9"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On a warm August afternoon, researchers plunged into Casco Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine. Wearing diving gear, they swam out towards a thriving seagrass meadow, where long green stalks thrived in the water. The meadow, home to Zostera marina, played a vital role in coastal ecosystems. It provided shelter for young marine life, improved water quality, and sequestered carbon. Seagrass meadows also softened wave action, protecting shorelines from erosion during storms.\n\nIn the past, these underwater gardens flourished along Maine's coast, covering more than 30,000 acres in the 1990s. However, recent decades have seen a dramatic decline, with some regions losing more than half of their seagrass beds. While scientists have yet to pinpoint the exact reasons, factors such as rising temperatures, coastal development, nutrient pollution, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and worsening storms have been implicated.\n\nSeagrass meadows, not just in Maine but globally, are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change and human activities. They form a \"kindergarten\" for young sea creatures, making their conservation crucial. Glenn Page, the leader of the dive team and executive director of COBALT, an organization in Portland dedicated to restoring coastal ecosystems, spearheaded the project known as Team Zostera. This initiative, involving Bowdoin College and the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership, aimed to study seagrass reproduction and test techniques for harvesting, storing, and transplanting the plant's seeds. This work was part of a broader seagrass conservation network emerging in Casco Bay, seeking to understand and restore the meadows where they've been lost.",
  "summary": "On a sunny afternoon in early August, the hot air rippled above a sandbar in Casco Bay as a group of researchers dove into the water. Wearing wetsuits and flippers, they swam out…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}