2nd European Seagrass Restoration Workshop
8th-10th April 2025 


Organised by: The Seagrass Consortium
Hosted by: Le Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon

“From competition to coalition: Towards a European Seagrass Restoration Alliance”

Monday 7th April – Pre-conference social networking

Social networking and casual drinks at La Voile Rouge ArcachonFrom 18:30
(Optional additional event)

Tuesday 8th April

Day 1

“Past, Present and Future“

Coffee08:00-09:00
PAST

09:00 Thomas Fauvel
– A warm welcome from Le Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon.

09:30 Dr. Isabelle Auby
– Reflections on three decades of change in the Bassin d’Arcachon 30mins.

10:00 Dr. Marieke M. van Katwijk.
-Reflections on three decades of change in seagrass restoration.		09:00-10:30
Coffee 10:30-11:00
PRESENT

11:00 TBC.
Introducing the EU Nature Restoration Law.

11:30 Alison Debney.
Lessons Learned in Building a successful Native Oyster Restoration Alliance. 		11:00-12:00
Lunch12:00-13:30
13:30 Jonathan Sagan.
LIFE MARHA, the restoration of benthic habitats in coastal marine environments in France.

13:50 Léane Chemineau.
Introducing the Mediterranean Posidonia Network.

14:15 Benoit Cajelot.
Integration of multi-scale technologies for the Italian coastal mapping and monitoring programme, with emphasis on Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa meadows.

14:35 Marcial Bardolet.
Seagrass Ocean Literacy and the Posidonia Seagrass Surveillance Service in the Balearics.		13:30-15:00
Coffee15:00-15:30
FUTURE

15:30 Dr. Leanne Cullen-Unsworth.
The planetary role of seagrass conservation.

16:00 Prof. Dr. Laura Govers.
Current and future perspectives – Nanozostera noltii seagrass restoration.

16:30 Prof. Dr. Fiona Tomas Nash.
Current and future perspectives – Cymodocea nodosa seagrass restoration.

17:00 Patrick Astruch.
Current and future perspectives – Posidonia oceanica seagrass restoration.

17:30 Prof. Dr. Richard Unsworth.
Current and future perspectives – Zostera marina seagrass restoration.
15:30-18:00
L’apéro de terroir

An apéritif is an alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. The French slang word for apéritif is “apéro”, and in France an apéro is also food eaten in the late afternoon or early evening.

For the poster session we thought it would be fun for delegates to bring ‘L’apéro de terroir‘ (e.g. food and/or drink) that is typical/representative from the country they are coming from e.g. Welsh cakes from Wales, Gouda cheese from Netherlands, Surströmming from Sweden, Ouzo from Greece? Your choice! What ‘L’apéro de terroir‘ represents your country best?		18:00-19:30
POSTERS

The Poster Session will be in the Salle des Ambassadeurs, alongside the L’apéro de terroir. 		18:00-19:30
From 19:30 Day 1 is over so deleagtes are free to head off for dinner.

Wednesday 9th April

Day 2

“Mechanisms For Change“

Coffee08:30-09:00
CROSS-CUTTING THEMES (Remote Sensing, Genetics, Long-term thinking, Financing)

09:00 Prof. Dr. Laurent Barillé and Prof. Dr. Pierre Gernez
A new European seagrass map through community led remote sensing and field validation.

09:25 Prof. Dr. Gabriele Procaccini
The genetic component of seagrass restoration

09:50 Prof. Dr. Ester A. Serrão.
Seagrass restoration in Portugal: 2007-2031 and beyond.

10:10 Kirsty Schneeburger MBE.
Unlocking finance for nature restoration.
09:00-10:30
Coffee10:30-11:00
11:00 split into smaller groups for Mechanisms for Change Workshops
Workshops 1-8 (11:00-15:00 including lunch break) 60mins (11:00-12:00) + 90mins (13:30-15:00)
Workshop 1
Posidonia oceanica		Workshop 2
Cymodocea nodosa
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 2)
Room 2.1 & 2.2		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 2)
Room 2.3 & 2.4
Capacity
20 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Léane Chemineau
2. Vasillis Papathanasiou
3. Dimitris Poursanidis		Chaired by:
1. Lázaro Marín-Guirao
2. Fernado Tuya
Workshop 3
Zostera marina		Workshop 4
Nanozostera noltii
Université de Bordeaux
Station Marine d’Arcachon de l’université de Bordeaux		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.3 & 3.4
Capacity
40 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Per-Olav Moksnes
2. Richard Unsworth		Chaired by:
1. Ana Sousa
2. Anna Cucknell
Workshop 5
Remote Sensing		Workshop 6
Financing Restoration
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.1 & 3.2		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Levels 2 & 3)
Auditorium
Capacity
20 persons		Capacity
40 persons
Chaired by:
1. Bárbara Ondiviela Eizaguirre
2. Cristina Galván Arbeiza		Chaired by:
1. Pere Giralt
2. Lisa Wiatschka
Workshop 7
Stakeholder Engagement		Workshop 8
La Fresque Océane
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.5		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
VIP Room
Capacity
20 persons		Capacity
14 persons
Chaired by:
1. Timi Løvholt Banke
2. Stijn den Haan		Chaired by:
1. Caroline van Heule
Workshops 9-16 (15:30-18:00)
150mins
Workshop 9
Blue Carbon		Workshop 10
Biodiversity
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Levels 2 & 3)
Auditorium		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 2)
Room 2.1 & 2.2
Capacity
40 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Inés Mazarassa
2. Oscar Serrano		Chaired by:
1. Rune Steinfurth
Workshop 11
Seascape Connectivity Modelling		Workshop 12
Engineering
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 2)
Room 2.3 & 2.4		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.5
Capacity
20 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Kasper Meijer
2. Courtney Stuart		Chaired by:
1. Mogens Flindt
2. Maike Paul
Workshop 13
Seagrass Nurseries		Workshop 14
Genetics
Université de Bordeaux
Station Marine d’Arcachon de l’université de Bordeaux		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.1 & 3.2
Capacity
30 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Laura Govers
2. Emily Yates		Chaired by:
1. Thorsten Reusch
2. Aline Finger
Workshop 15
Microbiome		Workshop 16
Water Quality
Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
Room 3.3 & 3.4		Palais des Congrès d’Arcachon (Level 3)
VIP Room
Capacity
20 persons		Capacity
20 persons
Chaired by:
1. Fiona Tomas Nash
2. Ryan Mueller		Chaired by:
1. Florane Le Bihanic
2. Esther Thomsen
From 18:00 Day 2 is over and so delegates are free to head off for dinner.

Thursday 10th April

Day 3

“Seagrass, Seascape and Society“

Coffee08:30-09:00
SEAGRASS (Fifteen 9min talks covering a broad range of workshop themes from abstract submissions. Please see Google Map here for geographic distribution)

09:00 Prof. Dr. Cristine Pergent-Martini.
Talk 1 – Comparison of Posidonia oceanica meadows transplanting protocols and first assessment of their efficiency.

09:10 Catalina A. Garcia-Escudero.
Talk 2 – A path to recovery: Restoration of seagrass Posidonia oceanica following cessation of a fish farm in Greece.

09:20 Dr. Fabio Bulleri.
Talk 3 – Spatial variation in microbial communities in sediments and on roots of Posidonia oceanica.

09:30 Dr. Dimos Traganos.
Talk 4 – Identifying high suitability areas for restoration through a novel high-resolution remote sensing framework: The case study of Portocolom Bay, Mallorca.

09:40 Dr. Vasilis Gerakaris.
Talk 5 – Seagrass restoration in Greece’s coastal lagoons: Reviving Zostera noltei meadows.

09:50 Vítor H. Oliveira.
Talk 6 – Zostera noltei as a Nature-based Solution for the restoration of degraded estuarine ecosystems – An overview of project RemediGrass.

10:00 Dr. Nicolas Mayot.
Talk 7 – First reduce the pressure, then restore – the journey towards active seagrass restoration in Berre lagoon.

10:10 Cristiana Maia.
Talk 8 – (Halo)phytopthora pathogens: Implications for Seagrass Restoration.

10:20 Roosmarijn van Zummeren
Talk 9 – Transplantation of Zostera noltii sods to establish seagrass meadows on newly nourished sediments as part of coastal development works in Romania.
09:00-10:30
Coffee 10:30-11:00
11:00 Dr. Marlene Jahnke.
Talk 10 – Using restoration genomics for sourcing donor material in eelgrass.

11:10 Jana Willim.
Talk 11 – Building Climate-Resilient Seagrass Meadows with Assisted Evolution.

11:20 Ricardo Pierracini.
Talk 12 – Strigolactone and gibberelic acid promote germination of Zostera marina seeds.

11:30 Dr. Liam Morrison.
Talk 13 – Assessing The Ecophysiological Status Of Seagrass Meadows In Ireland Across An Anthropogenic Pressure Gradient.

11:40 Amelia Newman
Talk 14 – LIFE Funded: UK’s Largest Zostera marina Restoration Project – Final Comments

11:50 Anouska Mendzil.
Talk 15 – In-field experimental planting-based methodology trials to inform active restoration practices: Zostera marina.


11:00-12:00
Lunch12:00-13:30
SEASCAPE

13:30 Prof. Dr. Lisa Wedding.
Five Ways Seascape Ecology Can Help to Achieve Marine Restoration Goals.

13:55 Prof. Dr Martin Gullström.
Seascape configuration and connectivity shapes blue carbon stock dynamics in coastal seagrass landscapes.

14:10 Prof. Dr. Joanne Preston
A Collective Vision Of Seascape Restoration

14:35 Dr. Guillaume Bernard.
Towards Seascape Recovery in the Bassin d’Arcachon. 		13:30-15:00
Coffee15:00-15:30
SOCIETY

15:30 Wietse van der Werf.
Social inclusion is the biggest gap the restoration movement is not addressing.

15:50 Thomas Fauvel.
Plan de gestion 2017-2032 du Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon. (and instructions for the Friday boat tour).

16:05 Caroline van Heule and Raquel Gaspar.
Madre Mar: Patagonia in conversation with Ocean Alive.		15:30-16:30
End of Workshops 16:30
2hrs of free time before the ESRW2 evening Social Event
ESRW2 Social Event at the Tir au Vol18:30-23:30. Dinner at 20:00. (TBC)
The ESRW2 social event will be held the Tir au Vol. Catering will be from a wonderful team of young chefs at Les Toqués du Bassin.

Friday 11th April – Le Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon

L’Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) of Le Parc naturel marin du Bassin d’Arcachon (PNMBA) boat tour09:00-13:00
(Additional event, not included in registration fee, and only available to the first 130 registrations)


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