Back on land, they store the shoots in large cooling boxes, before heading out the next day to a barren area further north to replant them in circles. One diver holds a line, and the other uses it to navigate the murky waters and swim around him.
"Everyone should make a contribution to protecting the environment because it... affects us all," said Verfondern, before donning a full wet-suit with a hood. While there are other initiatives to restore the plants worldwide, the SeaStore Seagrass Restoration Project in Kiel, run by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, is one of the first that aims to enable citizens to do so autonomously.
"Our aim is to scale it up after this pilot period," said Stevenson."The ultimate goal is to re-green the Baltic Sea."