Winey is a robotics engineer with ReefGen, a company that’s working to repopulate lost seagrass habitats around the globe. Found on seabeds from Alaska to Australia, seagrass meadows are one of the most widespread coastal habitats on Earth. BORIS HORVAT/AFP via Getty Images“Once upon a time, there were about 18 million hectares of seagrass meadows on the planet, and we’ve lost between 30 and 40%,” says Chris Oakes, CEO of ReefGen. “Without the seagrass meadows, we’re going to see more coastal erosion, the loss of coral reefs, the loss of fish stocks, and degraded water quality,” he tells CNN. Robots for restorationSeagrass restoration projects often involve divers planting seeds or shoots on the ocean floor.

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Persons: Nastasia Winey, BORIS HORVAT, we’ve, ”, Chris Oakes, Oakes, ReefGen, Tom Chi, ” Oakes, Cora, we’re, Joel Fodrie, ” Fodrie, “, ’ ” Organizations: Morehead City , North Carolina CNN, Grasshopper, Getty, CNN, Google, Grasshopper –, Grasshopper isn’t, University of North, UNC, Institute of Marine Sciences, UNC Institute of Marine Sciences, UNC's Institute of Marine Sciences Locations: Morehead City , North Carolina, seabeds, Alaska, Australia, AFP, Hawaii, Banks , North Carolina, North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Wales, University of North Carolina, North Carolina, Banks