Site selection of areas with potential for eelgrass transplantation in Denmark

Eelgrass, Zostera marina, is a key habitat to ensure good quality status within the Water Framework Directive. However, within the last decade, the status of eelgrass populations in Denmark has not naturally improved in response to the National efforts to improve marine water quality. Hence, restoration of eelgrass has been pointed out as mitigation tool in the Danish River Management Plans. We present a GIS site selection tool that screens for areas with good potential for eelgrass restoration in Denmark. This GIS tool utilize up to 9 environmental parameters that affect the survival success of transplanted eelgrass. The GIS tool was run with the best available data for all Danish coastal waters and gives a rough National overview on the potential for eelgrass restoration. We furthermore present a guideline, which stepwise describes which steps should be taken prior to big scale transplantation of eelgrass taking place.