MSC Foundation Launches New Seagrass Restoration Program in the Med

The MSC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of MSC Group, has announced the launch of a new three-year Mediterranean conservation program. The program will restore up to 180,000 Posidonia oceanica plants across degraded seagrass meadows, while engaging over 30,000 people through marine education, citizen science, and community activities.

The program, which is called “Shallow Bays of the Mediterranean,” is in partnership with Spanish marine conservation organization Asociación Vellmarí. Led by Vellmarí, the first place the program will be implemented is Ibiza, with the aim of establishing a model that can then be adapted for Palma de Mallorca and the Barcelona coastline.

Posidonia oceanica is a seagrass species found only in the Mediterranean. Its underwater meadows provide a habitat for marine life, store blue carbon, stabilize the seabed, and help protect coastlines from erosion.

The program was launched aboard Explora III as part of the events surrounding the ship’s naming ceremony — and the godmother of the ship is Vellmarí co-founder Cristina Ozores.

Set to run through July 2029, the program will build on the MSC Foundation and Vellmarí’s existing partnership focused on Formentera, it aims to plant and monitor between 170,000 and 180,000 Posidonia oceanica plants, bring an additional 215,278 square feet of degraded coastal habitat under restoration.

The program will combine science-based restoration with long-term environmental monitoring, ocean literacy, and practical community participation. Schools, dive centers, volunteers, educators, and researchers will take part in restoration, citizen science, and field-learning activities. Over the three-year period, the program will engage around 6,000 students across 30 schools and education centers. It will also involve around 600 volunteers and provide training for 28 educators and 24 dive centers.

This initiative builds on the collaboration established by the MSC Foundation and Vellmarí in Formentera in 2024, within the framework of the Foundation’s wider partnership with Mission Blue — an ocean conservation organization founded by oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle. During the first two years, Vellmarí planted over 78,000 Posidonia oceanica plants, bringing 29,062 square feet of degraded seagrass meadow in the waters around Formentera under restoration.