Biteback: Seahorses at Studland

Written by staff reporter Friday, 15 May 2009 00:00

The sighting of a pregnant seahorse there confirmed that the seagrass beds of Studland Bay were, in fact, a breeding site. Since then, it has been established that it is the only known breeding site for the spiny seahorse and the short-snouted seahorse in UK waters. Last year, both became protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Two divers, Neil Garrick-Maidment and Steve Trewhella, started the Seahorse Trust and have catalogued the damage caused by the anchors of the 300 or so boats that moor in the bay every week, as well as by the permanent moorings whose chains scour out the seagrass in 20m-wide circles. The sea bed here is owned by the Crown Estate, which appears to be reluctant to do anything immediate to help the situation. It has put forward some funding to enable a study to be undertaken – although it insists that it owns and controls all the data produced – and awarded the contract to an outside firm rather than use the local groups who devised the study and know the bay intimately. The Crown Estate has made it clear that the 30 permanent moorings that have been put on the site were done illegally, yet it refuses to do anything about them.

Studland Bay is a nursery area for many fish species, a wealth of invertebrates and numerous epiphytes on the sea grass. Despite the photographic evidence produced by Neil and Steve to document the damage being done, government agency Natural England is insistent it cannot suggest further protection without a study to show if the anchoring is damaging the seagrass. To that end, it plans to establish an area where boats will voluntarily not anchor, and then compare it over the next two years to a similar area where boats do moor. It is also funding Dorset Wildlife Trust to deliver the message to boat owners and local people that the area is fragile, that it contains some very special wildlife and that they should try to minimise the damage they do to it.

Long-term studies are valuable, but immediate action is called for when such a fragile ecosystem is at risk. The solution is not that hard – remove the illegal moorings and replace them with environmentally friendly moorings that don’t damage the sea bed. Since Natural England’s stated purpose is ‘to conserve and enhance England’s natural environment’, then it should take a proactive role in ensuring Studland Bay becomes a totally protected area under the new Marine Bill. And as the Crown Estate owns the sea bed, it should be its responsibility to ensure that these species do not have their habitat damaged. Let the Crown Estate know what you think about the current seahorse situation on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

It looks like we finally have a result in the long-running saga of Tesco selling shark fins in Thailand. After a meeting with the Shark Trust, Tesco has withdrawn shark fins from its Thai stores. Send Tesco a round of applause at www.tesco.com/help/contact/contactus1.asp.