Seagrass restoration project. ? another threat to anchoring.

Stemar

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Another Seahorse Trust?

Let's hope they're better at science than that wunch of bankers. If not, they'll get anchoring banned while scallop dredgers carry on raping the seabed

Is it pure coincidence that the two websites are similar in style?
 

JumbleDuck

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Let's hope they're better at science than that wunch of bankers. If not, they'll get anchoring banned while scallop dredgers carry on raping the seabed
Project Seagrass seems to be mainly people from Cardiff University Dept of Marine Biology. Although NGM liked to quote work from there, it looks to me as if the seagrass lot are quite respectable. I would not, to put it delicately, piss on the Seahorse Trust if they were on fire.
 

vyv_cox

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One of the sites they are concentrating on is Porth Dinllaen on the Lleyn peninsula. They claim that seagrass there has been destroyed by anchoring. I have been anchoring there since about 1988 and remember the beach as absolutely pristine golden sand anywhere that people would sensibly anchor, other than very close to the protecting peninsula. The bay at Dale that has been planted is one which is rarely used for anchoring, rather too exposed to swell, but Porth Dinllaen is a critical anchorage for waiting either to cross Caernarfon Bar or to go south to Bardsey. It offers the only shelter from south westerlies for many miles around.
 

oldharry

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Project Seagrass has been running a number of years now, run by two very highly knowledgeable Researchers from Swansea/Cardiff Uni. As mentioned above NGM likes to align with them, but I get the impression that this is not entirely reciprocated! These guys have spent many years actually studying the subject in considerable detail and are well aware of the practical issues for other sea users. I was superficially involved with their initial research at Porth Dinllaen in the early days and they most certainly are not saying that anchoring has destroyed the seagrass bed there. Not at least in the last report i saw from them. They are continuing to research the effect anchoring and moorings actually have on this key species, and have come up with a lot of useful and important data. They most defintely are not part of the 'ban the boats brigade' that has caused so much trouble at Studland, and are sympathetic to our need for safe anchorages, which tend also to be the best locations for seagrass growth.

Its worth noting that the claimed drop in seagrass stock is wordlwide not just UK, and that most of the loss in European waters was caused by disease in the 1930's which virtually wiped out the European stock. Other factors such as warming seas play a part too., and these real experts do not simply blame boats anchoring as does NGM, although they have concerns about it. Eelgrass, the main UK variety , is re-establishing itself in a number of locations including Studland, and Unwin and Jones' work aims to accelerate and spread the spread of this species in UK waters.

The fact remains seagrass plays an important role in marine ecological systems, and its well worth notng the advice given by RYA. and Blue Green
 

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