Conservation is the priority at Studland warns MMO.

[Robin]

B.B.. But I just recently read a new study that shows where I live will be UNDER water by 2030. SOMETHING has to be done and done urgently, Where do I get some seagrass plants???

 

[Boathook]

B.B.. But I just recently read a new study that shows where I live will be UNDER water by 2030. SOMETHING has to be done and done urgently, Where do I get some seagrass plants???

I don't feel that a few seagrass plants will help, but buy a plot of land elsewhere slightly higher, and in a few years put in planning application for a marina !

 

[lustyd]

B.B.. But I just recently read a new study that shows where I live will be UNDER water by 2030. SOMETHING has to be done and done urgently, Where do I get some seagrass plants???

If it's anything like carbon offsetting we'll sort this out by selling water to Africa where it's too dry, and then just consider the problem fixed once everyone involved is sufficiently wealthy.

 

[Robin]

I don't feel that a few seagrass plants will help, but buy a plot of land elsewhere slightly higher, and in a few years put in planning application for a marina !

I live in a marina now. but it will be underwater by 2030, maybe I'd better be investing in scuba gear.

 

[penfold]

Agreed, the research on carbon capture is very shaky. When it breaks down it also releases methane which is orders of magnitude worse than carbon. Unfortunately the studies on that measured very little methane output but acknowledge it was hard to measure in open ocean. I feel like a proper methane study would be time well spent if we’re to avoid sleepwalking into a methane crisis by “fixing” the carbon crisis. The sad reality is that most genuinely captured carbon on the planet was created before there were things capable of eating it and producing other products such as methane. If we bury wood now we will never manufacture coal because nature has moved on.

If it's measurable I suspect it's well outweighed by clathrate release from cold places gradually getting warmer, tramp releases from leaky oil field pipework, farting mammals and releases from sewage farms; we can do things about two of those with far better ROI than would be obtained by hiring anchor stasi. Farting mammals in the foodchain can be rendered less windy by adjusting their diet, although the ROI is more nebulous. The central flaw is that there's no hard science(or at least none they are prepared to consider) to base this nonsense on so we get a load of handwringing 'precautionary principle' rubbish about how it might be bad so we should do X regardless.

 

[Stemar]

The idea seagrass is a viable or scalable means of offsetting CO2 output is one of the stupider ideas I've read about this year, closely followed by the idea that leisure craft anchors are having a measurable effect on that offset.

There is good science behind some climate change mitigation (it's already too late to call it prevention), but far too many projects are just plain greenwashing. I'd happily give up anchoring in genuinely vulnerable areas, but first I want evidence that it will make a difference. The evidence that has been presented regarding eel grass in Studland Bay looks to me to be a "We need evidence that proves our point. That data point doesn't, so it must be wrong; this one does, so it's clearly right." It's pretty much exactly what Wakefield did to kick off the autism/vaccination scare.

 

[Concerto]

There is another side to seagrass called seagrass sanitation. It seems that some varieties of seagrass can reduce the amount gastroenteritis-causing pathogens in the water, therefore reducing the number of cases of gastroenteritis, which should help reduce the number of people dying from it.

The Surprising Scale of the Seagrass Sanitation Service | Hakai Magazine

 

[Oscar24]

I picked up a buoy a couple of weeks ago in Studland bay, and within 10 minutes was approached by a 'fisheries patrol' boat asking me if i knew about the no anchoring zone. I politely informed them i did and is why i picked up the buoy. They then wanted to hand me some 'flyer' paperwork which i declined.
The three people onboard all decked out in matching kit in a boat which was fully kitted out including having a FLIR camera. (quite some £ spent on it) then proceeded to follow any boats which came into the bay and presumably ask the same questions.
It was a quiet day so very few boats were in the bay and nearly all of them were using the buoys, but i can see this getting 'messy' on a busy bank holiday weekend.
This 'fisheries patrol' boat was the same boat i saw a week previous in south deep doing 20knts ?

 

[Stemar]

This 'fisheries patrol' boat was the same boat i saw a week previous in south deep doing 20knts ?

I hope you reported it to the Harbour Master. I can imagine several scenarios where that would be entirely justified, but...

 

[Oscar24]

I hope you reported it to the Harbour Master. I can imagine several scenarios where that would be entirely justified, but...

I didnt, but now wish i had.
I assumed they were on the way to some sort of emergency.

 

[Robin]

I hope you reported it to the Harbour Master. I can imagine several scenarios where that would be entirely justified, but...

In hot pursuit of an escaped Studland seahorse having been 'touched inappropriately' by a rubber clad pervert and trying hard to reach it's cuddly buddies in their colony inside of Poole's upper reaches?

Was there another RIB following close behind with the Countryfile luvvies and local Echo 'reporters' on board too?

 

[penfold]

I hope you reported it to the Harbour Master. I can imagine several scenarios where that would be entirely justified, but...

I didnt, but now wish i had.
I assumed they were on the way to some sort of emergency.

I don't think there's a statute of limitations for speeding in boats and if there were it would be longer than a month.

 

[Oscar24]

I don't think there's a statute of limitations for speeding in boats and if there were it would be longer than a month.

I dont have video evidence so it would be my word against theirs.

 

[penfold]

Are they on AIS? Their speeding will be recorded for posterity if so.

 

[oldharry]

Ais fitted? Thats like speeding in a vehicle with a tachograph fitted. Got caught that way by the German Police many years ago driving a 7.5 tonner down the autobahn at UK speeds. Should have checked local speed limits for our vehicle!

 

[Robin]

AIS can and often is turned off on official or military vessels is it not?

 

[Concerto]

It seems as if the area of seagrass in the Solent and Plymouth is going to be rapidly expanding.

UK's largest ever seagrass project targets the Solent and Plymouth waters - Marine Industry News

 

[penfold]

Maybe, but I'd hope only when seeking to surprise illegal fishing activity; it doesn't sound like that is the case here.

AIS can and often is turned off on official or military vessels is it not?

 

[Moonbeam]

It seems as if the area of seagrass in the Solent and Plymouth is going to be rapidly expanding.

UK's largest ever seagrass project targets the Solent and Plymouth waters - Marine Industry News

That link is a slightly different and rather positive spin on the same story below which says, that so far, the efforts have not worked out as they had hoped... but they are stepping up the programme.
Plymouth seagrass project switch after low yield

 

[lustyd]

Surely the root of this whole fiasco is that Seagrass is very hard to grow. If it's easy to grow then we can lift any and all restrictions, if not then we mustn't pin any CO2 reductions to these crazy schemes. These would appear to be mutually exclusive outcomes, yet the same people seem to peddle both.