Scientists and divers have recently made efforts to bring back the dwindling population of seahorses in Greece’s waters.
The Hellenic Center for Marine Research‘s (HCMR) Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture saw that this sensitive and vulnerable slow-moving creature usually has issues with getting tangled in fishing nets, however, off the coast of Stratoni, Halkidiki, in northern Greece, they found that mother nature was causing the population of seahorses to suffer.
In 2010 a storm front hit the area and folded the Argyro stream, home to many seahorses over the years. As the stream flooded, thousands of cubic meters of sediment was dumped onto the seabed off Statoni, where the seahorses natural ecosystem was left covered in mud.
Scuba diver Vassilis Mentogiannis joined a dive team from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities back in 2007 when he first came into contact with the seahorses of Stratoni. He saw the impact of the 2010 flood on the seahorses first hand.
“Unfortunately, the population declined quite significantly after that event,” Mentogiannis said to ekathimerini.com. “So we decided to place wire mesh over the seabed and attached ropes and a few fake aquarium plants to it in order to simulate a natural underwater garden. The initial results were immediate and impressive as many seahorses have already settled in this experimental habitat.”
Now HCMR and a team of divers including Mentogiannis are shooting a documentary on the species of seahorses found in Greece.
Also on board with the project are the Underwater Filming & Research (UFR) Team, OTE TV and the documentary will be shot under the auspices of the Regional Authority of Central Macedonia and the Tourism Ministry.
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