Seagrass meadows are critical habitat for numerous marine species and are declining rapidly worldwide.
Marine animals that lose seagrass habitat — turtles that feed on it, juvenile fish that use it as nursery habitat, seahorses that grip it with their tails — face reduced food availability, predation, and reduced reproductive success. The destruction of habitat is an indirect welfare harm affecting millions of individuals whose lives become more precarious as critical ecosystem structure disappears.