Reuben loved wildlife and our planet, he studied geography to better understand human impact on habitats and wanted to find sustainable ways to help our ecosystems. Sadly Reuben passed away in April 2021 after 2 years of intensive treatment for a rare soft tissue cancer. He was resilient, positive and brave throughout. We miss him every second of every day.

We have linked with a WWF project on ‘Planting Hope’ which fits with his aspirations. This project started in Dale (Pembrokeshire) where we had a great family holiday.The pilot scheme has now been expanded to other projects around the UK.

Planting Hope

Seagrass is a wonder-plant that lives in shallow, sheltered areas along our coast. It is vital to the health of our seas and can help address environmental problems. Seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests and, even though it only covers 0.2% of the seafloor, it absorbs 10% of the ocean’s carbon each year, making it an incredible tool in the fight against climate change. Seagrass is vital for marine life, which depends on the meadows for food and shelter. A 10,000m2 area can support 80,000 fish and over a million invertebrates. Seagrass is an important nursery for endangered wildlife such as seahorses, as well as many of the fish we eat, including cod, plaice and pollock.

In the UK, up to 92 per cent of our seagrass has disappeared in the last century. We’re working with Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University to bring these incredible underwater meadows back to life, by launching the biggest seagrass restoration project ever undertaken in the UK.

From tiny seeds great meadows may grow, and with them our hopes of a greener, cleaner future.

Watch this WWF video about the project.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR9sm6TY/

Reuben’s Tribute page can be found at https://www.mykeeper.com/events/ReubenDossett