TUNIS, May 3 — Under the Mediterranean waters off Tunisia, gently waving green seagrass meadows provide vital marine habitats for the fishing fleets and an erosion buffer for the beaches the tourism industry depends on.
Named Posidonia oceanica after the Greek god of the sea Poseidon, seagrass spans the Mediterranean seabed from Cyprus to Spain, sucking in carbon and curbing water acidity. The underwater flowering plants absorb three times more blue carbon — the term used to describe the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the ocean and coastal ecosystems — than a forest, and they can store it for thousands of years, she said.But a dangerous cocktail of rampant pollution, illegal fishing using bottom trawling nets that rip up the seagrass, and a failure by people to appreciate its life-giving importance is spelling its demise.
Areas of seagrass meadows have been slashed by more than half in the Gulf of Gabes, a vast area on Tunisia’s eastern coast, Sghaier said, with a 2010 study blaming excessive fishing and pollution. Magdiche calculates his catch is three times less than what it was 25 years ago, but said he had little alternative income.“You are not looking out for the interests of the sea, but to feed your children,” he added.Nearly 70 per cent of the Tunisian population lives on 1,400 kilometres of coastline, and for many Posidonia is considered mere rubbish.
“We are helping to make beaches disappear by removing the banks,” said Ahmed Ben Hmida, of Tunisia’s Coastal Protection and Development Agency.