Seven Spades
Well-Known Member
Slightly OT but have any other popular anchorages been designated? I have not heard about bays on the IOW for example.
Slightly OT but have any other popular anchorages been designated? I have not heard about bays on the IOW for example.
I think the reason Studand to Ryde was dropped was because of anchoring. Because Osborne is a more or less 'essential' overflow to Cowes, it was dropped. I had made this point quite early on, and RYA took it forward fully supported by the Cowes heavies! Pity there were not any round Studland, too!Colwell, Totland and Alum Bays were designated in Tranche 2 in 2016, in The Needles MCZ. In the present latest tranche, Bembridge has been designated, includes Pryory Bay. Interestingly, the Norris to Ryde proposed MCZ, which includes the popular anchorage Osborne Bay, is not listed in this latest 3rd Tranche, but I've not yet found an explanation for this.
There's a good simple map at https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/...vation-zones-in-national-blue-belt-expansion/
Well summariesd and a balanced approach ,and you should be thanked for your efforts on this , I do belive as a vocal enviromentalist that the habitat should be shared and experienced by all as long as we are respectful to to the enviroment and try as best we can to minimise or impact, sailing is a given right in our Island nation and the right to anchor is a ;legal right , if we can educate more people on a better way then it can never be a bad thing , the problem always arises when enforcment is laid down rather that a volutary code of practice
I hope a balanced solution is found and all are happy :encouragement:
A balanced approach is of course what all rational people would wish for, and should be quite possible. We all value the natural life around us, and to many, including me, it is part of what draws us onto the water. There are also indications in the Defra documents linked to the designations that the Government intends to take a sensible approach, I’ll give more detail on that on the BORG website in future.
First, a very simple and basic point to bear in mind. Studland Bay has one of the largest, if not the largest, area of eelgrass beds in mainland England and Wales, apart from the enclosed waters of The Fleet (the long lagoon behind Chesil Beach). Studland Bay is at the same time one of the most-used anchorages. It follows inescapably that leisure boat anchoring really cannot really be very damaging to the eelgrass. Biggest in-use anchorage, biggest eelgrass beds, apart from the exceptional case of The Fleet. Eelgrass and anchors side by side – for decades.
People might assume that anchors being repeatedly deployed in the seabed would be harmful to the eelgrass, so how come it is flourishing? The answer lies in two factors: first, when you work it out, the actual area disturbed by anchors in a season is small, less than 1% of the seabed, and second, eelgrass, like many plants, has high powers of regrowth and recovery if it is damaged. Remember, all plants are subject to damage in their life, they get eaten, infested, and damaged by wind and storm, and recovery from damage is part and parcel of being a plant. These points are explained at http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/Evidence-overview-Sept14.pdf and that overview article has links to more detailed papers.
Natural England report that “Expert scientific advice confirms the vulnerability of Studland Bay seagrass beds to anchoring activity”, but there is no number put to this, no estimate of the extent of the vulnerability. The advice is desk-top based, and is not backed by survey. (But see "Seastar Survey concludes no consistent evidence of boat anchoring impacting the seagrass habitat at Studland Bay” at http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/latest-news/)
Yes, in the total absence of anchoring there might be a small percentage increase in eelgrass cover – but given that the eelgrass beds have been increasing over decades, BORG believes that the beds still satisfy the requirements of “Favourable Condition” set out in the official Designation Order:
“ with respect to a habitat within the Zone,
(i) its extent is stable or increasing, and
(ii) its structure and functions, its quality, and the composition of its characteristic
biological communities are such as to ensure that it remains in a condition which is
healthy and not deteriorating;”
This is a sensible requirement which, if met, means that the habitat is in a sustainable situation. Total perfection might be the ecologist’s (and Natural England’s) dream, but if recovery and regrowth match or outstrip any damage, so that the habitat is indeed sustainable, as it appears to be, that seems a pretty good compromise on our crowded island, and also fulfils the legal requirement without imposing restrictions.
However if this sustainability can be further improved by an enhanced voluntary code, that would be all to the good. That is, perhaps, for another posting.
These arguments will all need to be made (again!) and supported if and when "management" proposals are put forward for our anchorages.
This does not surprise me as recently I have been fighting a Kent County Council backed conservation group and how it was being interpreted in their country parks. Basically an organisation called Old Chalk New Downs and funded by £1.4M of heritage lottery funding claimed over the past 60 years 80% of the chalk grasslands have been lost. There objective is to return the escarpement of the North Downs in Kent back to the traditional grazing. My local country park is using goats to do a lot of the clearing, but ignoring the fact that most visitors do not like the goats and will not enter the fields they occupy. It now transpires that most of the information provided, including aeriel photos going back to 1946, failed to prove the 80% on the North Downs. It now transpires this 80% covers all of the UK. It was determined by a land usage survey of the UK in 100 metre square boxes, Kent was surveyed in 2008. In this survey the escarpement of the Downs in the country park is shown as completely woodland, yet 11 years later there are still massive areas larger than 100 m². The inaccuracy of the survey is irrelevant as there is nothing else available. The strange thing is when I looked back 600 years to written texts, the whole area is quoted as being woodland and forest - including all the arible field. So conservations are now defending man's maximum influence over nature in the name of conservation. The goats should never be in the country park and despite massive public support, I was just told they were going to extend their use in to the most popular field in the park. The extension of the clearance of the Downs was not a problem for me, in fact I even offered to raise working parties to do this, it was the use of goats in a popular public open space that I objected to.Natural England report that “Expert scientific advice confirms the vulnerability of Studland Bay seagrass beds to anchoring activity”, but there is no number put to this, no estimate of the extent of the vulnerability. The advice is desk-top based, and is not backed by survey.
Your points and argument is a fair assessment, but if I may be so cbold to answer so of your science , my Wife is a Dr of Science currently finishing of three papers for scientific research which then goes off and is peer reviewed , I know there are those on this forum that will argue this, but peer reviewed scientific papers have been the stalwart of modern Science and medicine for centuries.
the Problem with the Studland bay research by Borg was it was not peer reviewed nor was it scientifically done, as in protocols were not put in place to allow proper Data analysis , now I know there are esteemed people on here that know best but I don't tell a Shepard how to tend their sheep. therefore I don't tell my wife how to do proper Scientific research that gets her published and is recognised worldwide , this is the way of research , if you can pick holes in it and the research done was poorly done in a research way then you will loose your argument.
Natural England did what is common in research and they did what is called a literature review, in which they trawled through the scientific world of papers written all around the world in regards to Seagrass and came to a conclusion that if it is happening in other places it is happening in Studland Bay , this is sound scientific research it is of something happening they can look at this research and come to some conclusion this is potentially happing here.
(Caveat)They are sometimes wrong.
The Problem with Natural England's approach was their Review took in no place around the UK as no studies have every been done , and this is a failing on their behalf and is poor science , I do not no Studland Bay nor the Area nor the outcomes but living with a scientist you pick up stuff and she argrees it is lazy research or more common money issues.
Like I have written, in Scotland all our Marine Zones allows anchoringand I feel this is the best approach, and to educate rather thanforced appliance
Most of the papers I published on the BORG website are actually literature reviews. Some are critiques of Natural England and other Conservo papers, which frequently showed a careless and/or biased scientific approach – see for instance http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/Studland-evidence.pdf which points out that they tried to conflate damage done by fixed mooring chains with damage done by anchoring, and to (wrongly) assert that vulnerabilities of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica were shared by the local eelgrass Zostera marina – which they are not.
I do have a PhD in Natural Sciences, and spent 40 years as a professional scientist working in R&D in photographic and imaging science, so I do rather know about scientific protocols and publications.
I decided not to go down the peer reviewed route in challenging the bad “science” which has plagued the MCZ process because that takes time and, in many cases, money. Instead, it was more efficient to make challenges direct to the institutions concerned, and at the same time publish the work on the BORG website – that I can do from my desktop, and the site cost originally just £18 a year, now £28 a year because it takes more space because of the volume of material on it. Incidentally, I can thoroughly recommend WebhostUK for website hosting, good value and excellent service. I would also acknowledge the courtesy of the bodies involved, Natural England, Defra and the MMO, who would take note of various critiques and take action if they deemed it justified. At the end of the day, it is in everyone’s interest that decisions and action are taken on properly established grounds, rather than wasting resources on issues that make little or no difference, like a doctor busily trying to cure the wrong disease. (Cue: the big actors in degrading the marine environment are pollution, heavy towed bottom fishing gear, and over-fishing; in comparison, recreational boating issues are mere pinpricks).
This approach has often worked: the MAIA paper alleging that the Studland Bay eelgrass was “fragmented” was withdrawn after being challenged, the moorings/anchoring conflation and the “wrong” seagrass issues no longer happen, an earlier eelgrass vulnerability assessment has been replaced by a better (but still flawed) one, our pressure led Defra to commission a proper report (525 pages, I’ve not reviewed all that yet) on Anchoring and Mooring Impacts in English and Welsh Marine Protected Areas, the historical aerial photo imagery of the eelgrass beds is firmly established, the Sea Horse Trust’s claim that the eelgrass was “destroyed” in the moorings area was shown to be utterly false by underwater video footage, and so on and so on. We also note that the Norris to Ryde proposed MCZ along the Isle of Wight coast has not been designated, although as Old Harry points out the Solent yachting interests and the RYA are believed to have been players in that.
So a lot has been achieved, but the voice of the boating community will need to be heard again if unwelcome management issues are proposed. And this does not apply just to Studland Bay – Studland is a test case, many anchorages have eelgrass, because eelgrass also likes sheltered and reasonably shallow waters.
On the question of shelter in an emergency, the Defra publication at https://assets.publishing.service.g...file/804659/mcz-tranche3-consult-sum-resp.pdf states
“• The protected right to anchor within any MCZ under emergency conditions is
provided for within the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009).”
– there could be questions about what is an emergency, but this is unlikely to arise unless the right is clearly being abused. But the best outcome would be minimal restrictions on anchoring anyway. I am actually a bit more optimistic than Old Harry on the final outcomes.
For anyone interested, the papers and articles mentioned are at http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/ , there's a lot there, I suggest starting points would be http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/evidence/ and http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/technical-summaries/.
Your are an old Goat are you not specsavers will help with your eyesight at 72 I expect you need it I am the Goose man come and see me fly
Your poor assesment of science shows your lack of knowledge of the Subject to many on these forums proclaim themselfs experts even though they have retired and moved on to new pastures and actually get their Knowledge from Wiki , life and science moves on practices and observations move on, and the last time I was doing my Degree they warned us if any one refreneced Wiki in a science paper we would fail automatically.
My wife has been is still in and is highly regarded in the field of Enviromental Sciences but oh no Rotrax is right , god help us all
She is in the middle of publishing some ground breaking science in Water which will change the way we deal with it and knows here stuff so when she looks at Studland Bay and the data from Borg and the argument thats present. and tells me its flawed I belive her not some one out of the loop for 30 years .!! (She is American and lives in Scotland I truly dont think she knows were Studland is )
When you loose your argument anfd it becomes a MZ you got to ask yourself why !!
When you get a pertro chemical retired Dr to do your data and not an Ecolgist that would tell you it needs years to find out this data you wonder why you lost !!
When you compare a certain eelgrass to other eel grasses around the world and studies done you can come up with a reasonably conclusion that this might be happening in Studland this is called Littrature review and is commonly used in all scientfic papers , this is fact and if you knew this you would be prepared to argue the point in your fight for Studland but you lost !!
Those people that put better evidence before the commitee knew how to do it they knew the procedures and what was needed that is why you lost!!
The law has a way of doing procedures for all those that have been lawyers judges, or been the other sideSo does Enviromental sciences , Ecology , Marine Biology Zoology, etc will all have the same principals and no matter if a Spanish person wrote a paper for a Spansih Univeristy , this will be the exact same as an English person writting for a Englsih University for Science must be mirrored around the world so that all scientists can understand each other and re create their data and experiments .
It is difficult to admit you do not know everything espically as we get older and the younger generation come up with dynamic ways and approaches but if you do not embrace it then you will be left behind to shout those down, because you are envious of their hard work and dedication .
Rotrax you are constanly harrasing me I again offer the invitation for you to meet me so that you can finally put a face to this mysterieous person you think I am , I do not bite and make a lovely cup of tea![]()
Your are an old Goat are you not specsavers will help with your eyesight at 72 I expect you need it I am the Goose man come and see me fly
Your poor assesment of science shows your lack of knowledge of the Subject to many on these forums proclaim themselfs experts even though they have retired and moved on to new pastures and actually get their Knowledge from Wiki , life and science moves on practices and observations move on, and the last time I was doing my Degree they warned us if any one refreneced Wiki in a science paper we would fail automatically.
My wife has been is still in and is highly regarded in the field of Enviromental Sciences but oh no Rotrax is right , god help us all
She is in the middle of publishing some ground breaking science in Water which will change the way we deal with it and knows here stuff so when she looks at Studland Bay and the data from Borg and the argument thats present. and tells me its flawed I belive her not some one out of the loop for 30 years .!! (She is American and lives in Scotland I truly dont think she knows were Studland is )
When you loose your argument anfd it becomes a MZ you got to ask yourself why !!
When you get a pertro chemical retired Dr to do your data and not an Ecolgist that would tell you it needs years to find out this data you wonder why you lost !!
When you compare a certain eelgrass to other eel grasses around the world and studies done you can come up with a reasonably conclusion that this might be happening in Studland this is called Littrature review and is commonly used in all scientfic papers , this is fact and if you knew this you would be prepared to argue the point in your fight for Studland but you lost !!
Those people that put better evidence before the commitee knew how to do it they knew the procedures and what was needed that is why you lost!!
The law has a way of doing procedures for all those that have been lawyers judges, or been the other sideSo does Enviromental sciences , Ecology , Marine Biology Zoology, etc will all have the same principals and no matter if a Spanish person wrote a paper for a Spansih Univeristy , this will be the exact same as an English person writting for a Englsih University for Science must be mirrored around the world so that all scientists can understand each other and re create their data and experiments .
It is difficult to admit you do not know everything espically as we get older and the younger generation come up with dynamic ways and approaches but if you do not embrace it then you will be left behind to shout those down, because you are envious of their hard work and dedication .
Rotrax you are constanly harrasing me I again offer the invitation for you to meet me so that you can finally put a face to this mysterieous person you think I am , I do not bite and make a lovely cup of tea![]()