Farmers blamed for pushing Poole Harbour pollution ot 60 year high.

[Concerto]

The amount of nitrogen entering the harbour has more than doubled from about 1,000 tonnes per year in the Sixties to 2,300 tonnes annually now, according to the Environment Agency. Nitrogen encourages plant growth, and can lead to excessive green algae growth in pollution hotspots. Algae on Poole Harbour’s mudflats have smothered the native seagrass and had a negative impact on the wetland birds and other wildlife.

Farmers blamed for pushing Poole Harbour pollution level to 60-year high

 

[Frogmogman]

Makes a change from it being the water companies, I guess…..

 

[jaminb]

Water companies are as much to blame - nitrate is also generated from sewage

Savills UK | What is nitrate neutrality and how is it affecting housing development in the Solent region?

 

[Jonny A]

Although my personal experience is that in general the water inside the harbour is cleaner than it was 20 to 30 years ago.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Although my personal experience is that in general the water inside the harbour is cleaner than it was 20 to 30 years ago.

About 30 years ago many of our rivers and harbours were dead. We have cleaned many up and have seen fish return

The pollution here at an all time high is for nitrates which are hard to remove from sewage and dont degrade readily. This may not kill fish directly but can promote blanketing algal and weed grown and even toxic algal blooms, destroying the biosphere for some distance

 

[Blueboatman]

Water companies are as much to blame - nitrate is also generated from sewage

Savills UK | What is nitrate neutrality and how is it affecting housing development in the Solent region?

?Natural England bungs a moratorium on ‘blanket’ housing development across the Solent environs.

Well well.

 

[Wansworth]

Like the Mar Menor in Spain,run off of agricultural additives causing a dead sea

 

[oldharry]

I have been saying for years that nitrates are the real threat to the eelgrass in Studand, just outside Poole. No, its not an issue I was told very firmly by the same 'experts' who are now highlighting the problem....

Nitrates cause algal growth which in turn kills off eelgrass by bloking sunlight so that it cannot photosynthesise, as reported now. In one year one shallow sector of the Bay was very badlu affected. It recovered the following season.

The people who really do know, Unwin and Jones from Swansea Uni, who run British Seagrass Survey tested and confirmed what I have been saying, some years ago. They found that Studland has the second highest nitrate level in the country. But it didnt fit the NE/SHT party line so it was set aside.

 

[Tranona]

I have been saying for years that nitrates are the real threat to the eelgrass in Studand, just outside Poole. No, its not an issue I was told very firmly by the same 'experts' who are now highlighting the problem....

Nitrates cause algal growth which in turn kills off eelgrass by bloking sunlight so that it cannot photosynthesise, as reported now. In one year one shallow sector of the Bay was very badlu affected. It recovered the following season.

The people who really do know, Unwin and Jones from Swansea Uni, who run British Seagrass Survey tested and confirmed what I have been saying, some years ago. They found that Studland has the second highest nitrate level in the country. But it didnt fit the NE/SHT party line so it was set aside.

Exactly. I remember all those years ago suggesting to NGM this was worth investigating only to be told "I did not understand". I fear we are entering a new era where beliefs override facts and nothing can be questioned that does not agree with received thought. Just the same as with radical race theory where its proponents seek to tell you where you have got it wrong if you don't agree with them.

 

[Concerto]

All of the fuss about seahorses no longer being found off Swanage is probably due to the high nitrogen content in the water upsetting their natural balance as creatures, nothing at all about boats and anchoring.

 

[GrahamD]

The amount of nitrogen entering the harbour has more than doubled from about 1,000 tonnes per year in the Sixties to 2,300 tonnes annually now, according to the Environment Agency. Nitrogen encourages plant growth, and can lead to excessive green algae growth in pollution hotspots. Algae on Poole Harbour’s mudflats have smothered the native seagrass and had a negative impact on the wetland birds and other wildlife.

Farmers blamed for pushing Poole Harbour pollution level to 60-year high

Here is a theory.

If we encourage much more anchoring in the area, the mechanical disturbance of the seabed will break up the algae and allow the sea grass to grow.

Would NE buy this one?

 

[oldharry]

Here is a theory.

If we encourage much more anchoring in the area, the mechanical disturbance of the seabed will break up the algae and allow the sea grass to grow.

Would NE buy this one?

No. That's already been tried.Two of the research papers we checked out observed that growth appeared to be stimulated by disturbance, but did not pursue it, so provided no actual evidence. However that doesnt fit the current 'expert opinion' or the current agenda. As Tranona was told we cannot understand what is happening. I have been repeatedly told the same thing.

As I said earlier, in this game black is whatever colour the appointed experts say it is, regardless of the evidence. The rest of us do not understand this. I think it is only too clear....

 

[RivalRedwing]

As I said earlier, in this game black is whatever colour the appointed experts say it is, regardless of the evidence. The rest of us do not understand this. I think it is only too clear....

or... whichever experts best support the salaries and pensions of NE

 

[Concerto]

or... whichever experts best support the salaries and pensions of NE

or support the blinkered view of NE.

 

[oldharry]

NE ARE the experts. The rest of us no nuffink.

 

[SandyP]

Don't mention the situation in the canals

 

[The Q]

Nor what they've been doing on the Norfolk broads or tried to do in the area.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Although my personal experience is that in general the water inside the harbour is cleaner than it was 20 to 30 years ago.

It could have some pretty deadly chemicals in it and still appear cleaner though (especially considering what it did look like at times. It needs to be purer, not cleaner really - some rivers are absolutely filthy to look at but are actually pretty free of man-made pollution so I guess the corollary is that some rivers can look pretty clean but actually contain unacceptable levels of man-made pollution.

 

[Jonny A]

It could have some pretty deadly chemicals in it and still appear cleaner though (especially considering what it did look like at times. It needs to be purer, not cleaner really - some rivers are absolutely filthy to look at but are actually pretty free of man-made pollution so I guess the corollary is that some rivers can look pretty clean but actually contain unacceptable levels of man-made pollution.

Yes, obviously, but my point about visible pollution stands. I remember when I was a child finding lumps of congealed oil on local beaches and far more litter floating around. We're moving in the right direction, just need to keep going and also cover the non-visible pollution too.

 

[The Q]

The broads thirty years ago were brown and nothing grew. Now the rivers are lined with water lilies and the broads themselves clogged with weed..


It's a nightmare always getting round / in, rudders / keels / water intakes.. Bring back Pollution!!!