Coastline resilience Romania
To counter the rapid degradation of coastlines and protect Natura 2000 habitats, the Romanian Government launched a coastal protection project to strengthen the Southern Romanian Black Sea shoreline. In this project, Van Oord designed a special breakwater to create a sheltered beach cell with the right conditions for seagrass restoration. Van Oord Ocean Health will create over two hectares of seagrass.
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Partners:
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Location:
Romania, Constanta
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Execution:
February 2025
In Eforie, coastal protection works and beach nourishment were designed together with ecological requirements, integrating Zostera noltii habitat needs directly into the engineering concept. This collaboration with scientific partners made seagrass restoration a central objective for boosting ecosystem resilience and long‑term coastal stability.
Designing for seagrass from the start
A 2.8‑hectare sheltered beach cell was engineered using high‑resolution modelling to create optimal conditions for Z. noltii. In June 2023, 468 sods (3.7 m² donor area) were transplanted. By late 2023, drone imagery showed expansion to ~140 m² — clear proof that ecological design and coastal engineering can deliver large‑scale seagrass recovery.
Scaling-up
The successful Eforie approach was extended to Olimp, Jupiter–Neptun, and Balta Mangalia–Venus–Aurora, creating 78 hectares of modelled suitable habitat. A combined restoration strategy was applied:
Seed‑based restoration (DIS method) with processed and stored seeds injected into mapped plots
Manual core transplantation for delicate areas
Mechanical sod relocation to salvage and replant existing meadows efficiently
Thousands of sods and tens of thousands of seeds were planted across all sites.
A Regional Benchmark
The Constanța seagrass program shows what’s possible when ecological goals are embedded from the outset. It is one of the Black Sea region’s largest and most innovative seagrass restoration efforts, setting a new standard for nature‑inclusive coastal engineering.
