Although we have been seeing some eelgrass in that place since childhood, in recent years, eelgrass has spread throughout the area, and now it looks like a huge grassland. Although it is a good food source for many animals like cows, buffaloes, local people often keep them away from grazing and cutting because they understand how eelgrass protects them. The Forest Department also keeps a watch on this.
Coming from a coastal village called Ratnapura in Banskhali and growing up along the sea coast, I have seen things that we have lost to the sea over the last few decades. I remember my father and many others from our village used to cultivate watermelons, cucumbers, melons and tomatoes on the sandy dunes along the coast that no longer exist. Rising seas or sea level rise over the past two decades have wiped it all out. Not only this, a few years ago, a large area of mangrove forest has been cleared to make room for shrimp farming and salt farms, leaving us with no protection from cyclones.
Nevertheless, over the years, Ratnapur Point has seen a great deal of change. Construction has started back in the area. The intertidal zone is rich in eelgrass, which protects the shoreline from erosion. Basically, eelgrass helps to deposit marine mud and other particles carried by waves and compact the land. Over time, this area becomes home to mangrove forests or keora trees as they can grow easily there. Eelgrass is like a bed made of kewra trees. Apart from this, it also plays an important role in protecting the coastal ecosystem. It provides shelter and food to diverse aquatic species along the coast, including crabs, seahorses, turtles and many other small invertebrates.
We didn't know that it had the ability to absorb carbon from the environment. A 2023 study by the Port of San Diego found that eelgrass is a powerhouse in the fight against climate change. It absorbs 10 times more carbon than forests on land. And then I understood why volunteers in Japan started planting eelgrass on their beaches and Reuters made it their headlines.