Mouser Electronics has backed the development of an underwater harvester designed to speed up Britain’s seagrass restoration efforts, as conservation groups look for technological solutions to reverse decades of ecosystem decline.
The global distributor has supplied components for a prototype machine intended to automate the collection of seagrass seeds, a process conservationists say is too slow and labour-intensive to support large-scale restoration. Engineers Sam Rogers and Edwin Towler of Tandem Ventures led the build for Project Seagrass, a marine conservation organisation.
The system is designed to gather seeds up to 100 times faster than divers using manual methods, potentially enabling broader restoration programmes along the UK coastline. Research suggests that the UK has lost at least 44% of its seagrass since 1936, with some studies indicating losses of more than 90% over earlier historical baselines.
Seagrass meadows, which act as nurseries for marine life and stabilise coastal sediments, are also significant carbon sinks. Although they cover only 0.2% of the seabed, they are estimated to store about 10% of the ocean’s carbon.
Mouser provided components including an Analog Devices EVAL-ADXL362 evaluation board, an Espressif ESP32-S3-WROOM wireless module, an STMicroelectronics 6-axis inertial measurement unit, and connectors from JST and Hirose. These were selected to meet requirements for precise sensing, data processing, and reliable performance in underwater conditions.
Mark Patrick, Director of Technical Content at Mouser, said the company was “proud to support” technology that could accelerate ecological restoration, adding that the initiative formed part of the distributor’s wider corporate responsibility strategy.
Mouser has previously supported projects ranging from whale research to large-scale tree planting linked to orders of Analog Devices components.
The company, which specialises in distributing newly released semiconductors and industrial components, serves more than 650,000 customers in 223 countries and territories from its Texas-based logistics hub.
