Studland bay preservation association

Status
Not open for further replies.
Allan said:
When I first started reading about the Seahorses in Studland, I thought it was a typical fight between the arrogant boaters and and some well meaning ecologist. I did think that maybe the ecologist were slightly over reacting but my natural instinct was to come down on their side. After reading the many treads on here, the Seahorse trust website, ST44's facebook page and a few other things on the internet, I am now completely anti the Seahorse trust ect.
Click to expand...

Spot on. The arrogance is all one one side in this debate. I too started out with an open mind and prepared to support conservation measures but they have lost all credibility by their dishonest approach to evidence and their clear intention of excluding all other users of the area.
 
snowleopard said:
I too started out with an open mind and prepared to support conservation measures
Click to expand...

I also support conservation measures, especially no fish zones to allow aquatic creatures to breed in peace as I believe in the long run it benefits the fishermen. Studland Bay has now seen the last of the scallop dregermen and the area supports a growing, or at the very least, a stable and healthy seahorse population.....despite the leisure boats visiting the bay.

That is 'science' I can relate to and fully support.
 
Studland Bay

I've never seen any Scallop dredgers in the bay ...the nearest I've seen to this is a couple of the Village fishermen trying out oyster dredges in the middle of the Bay back in the early 70s .. even this was away from the Seagrass beds and only for one or two tows lasting 10 minutes while they tested their rigging out ready for the Oyster season in Poole Harbour . Beam trawling is prohibited within the Bay as its under the control area of the Southern Sea Fisheries Committee . There are a couple of small inshore trawlers that tow in the middle of the bay sometimes but they never stray into the Seagrass beds because of the moorings and the wreckage off THE YARDS .
 
Geoffs said:
Actually, I think those yellow buoys are the markers for the VNAZ. I think the speed limit markers are removed during the winter months. As a matter of interest I wonder what peoples attitude towards the VNAZ is?

1) I will respect the VNAZ and not anchor in the area.
2) I will anchor in the VNAZ to show my contempt towards those imposing it.
3) I will anchor in the VNAZ to try and distort the 'Scientific' data.


I will tend towards 1), if only because I look for weed free sand, as, like most, I know holding is better. This usually means keeping as close to beach as, draught, tide and swimmers will permit.
Click to expand...

I don't know what VNAZ stands for but number two looks like the option to go for,any chance that there will be a diver down when I throw my anchor overboard? :)
 
Let's not tar all divers with the same brush, please.

Does anyone know if there is a BSAC club in/near Poole ?
 
A Waste of Public Funds ?

I have just read the Final Report of the Studland Seagrass and Seahorse Study Group on the wonderful PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT 2009 which cost £9300 . ...... £2250 of which was the cost of Admin for 3 months and a further £3100 for beach wardens again for 3 months....? I shall try to attach it to a later post in this thread once I get a better signal from my laptop ...probably tomorrow .
However, below is a Survey Chart showing the location of the Sea Grass beds in 1991 which was part of an Enviromental Impact Study for BP in relation to their outlined HOOK ISLAND plans for extracting oil from Poole Bay.
 
Last edited:
What I'm wondering is.... was the VNAZ setup where the seahorses were already 'grazing'?
If so, when the trial ends and the seahorses are still in the VNAZ but as before not outside the VNAZ will this some how be used to prove that where boats anchore seahorses don't live.... Cunning eh!?
 
Seahorse trust survey

As can be seen above I have taken an interest in the debate about seahorses in Studland bay. As Neil of the seahorse trust has stopped posting on here and many people have been critical of him for not posting facts from surveys, I have found a few comments that I have SELECTED from a 2007 survey published on the seahorse trust website. The lines between sections have been added by me to ensure it is obvious where I made cuts. I would add that as someone who loves wildlife I was quite distressed by some of the photographs showing these fragile creatures being deliberately captured and mutilated. I have reported my thoughts to the Heritage Lottery fund and the Charity commission.
Allan
--------------------------------------------
HABITATS
Its been long thought that all Seahorses live just in Eel grass beds, slowly this is being
disproved and the evidence from The British Seahorse Survey reports 2002, 2003, 2004
and now 2007 show this to be far from the case, H.guttulatus does seem to be found
more in Eel Grass than H.hippocampus but the choice of habitats is wide spread from
Eel grass to man made objects and marinas, it shows that both species are highly
adaptable and will probably select habitats based firstly on food availability and secondly
on the type of habitat.
_________________________________________________________________

Another sighting of note was by Sue Daly from Jersey in August 2006, [Sue is
also the surveys coordinator for the Channel Islands] she reported a sighting
from a marina where a group of children had been ‘netting’ seahorses alongside
the pontoons where the boats were moored up, the children had found
approximately 30 Seahorses of a variety of sizes from juvenile down to fry.
Sue went down the following day to check out the site and found another small
group of 8 seahorses.
We know from previous sightings that the Seahorses are breeding in this location
and Sue has videoed Seahorses in the marina before.
__________________________________________________________________

Conclusion
Seahorses in the British Isles and Ireland are better understood now than they were 13
years ago when the survey was started, we have a better idea of the habitat preferences of
the 2 species and we better understand their distribution and their migratory patterns.
We now know for certain they are resident in our waters and breeding; the assumption is
the population, although not a very common animal is indeed stable and hopefully
subject to no marine or environmental disasters will remain so.
In this day and age of Global Warming doom and gloom scenarios it is refreshing to see
an exotic tropical looking animal that is not here because of the Global Warming but
because it has always been a resident here; they were even recorded by the Picts on their
stone carvings during their occupation of the British Isles.
The increased knowledge gained by the survey has allowed us to target areas of known
populations to gain and even better understanding and as the survey continues we will
break down some of the barriers and gaps in our knowledge.
This knowledge can only be gained by the kindness of others giving up their free time to
search for the Seahorses and with better promotion of the survey via the internet and the
media we will get more volunteers helping us in our work. The network of coordinators
throughout the country has proved to be a valuable system in reporting sightings and to
gain a better local knowledge of the people finding Seahorses and the habitat they live in.
Even with the knowledge we have after 13 years of the survey there is still an even
greater need for more knowledge and as the survey goes on into its 14th year and beyond
we will be adding to the large database we have so we can get a greater understanding of
one of the British Isles must elusive but enigmatic species; whose future will hopefully
remain a positive one.
 
MAD FRANKIE said:
I have just read the Final Report of the Studland Seagrass and Seahorse Study Group on the wonderful PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT 2009 which cost £9300 . ...... £2250 of which was the cost of Admin for 3 months and a further £3100 for beach wardens again for 3 months....? I shall try to attach it to a later post in this thread once I get a better signal from my laptop ...probably tomorrow .
However, below is a Survey Chart showing the location of the Sea Grass beds in 1991 which was part of an Enviromental Impact Study for BP in relation to their outlined HOOK ISLAND plans for extracting oil from Poole Bay.
Click to expand...

Well that's torn it. You mean to say that 19 years of anchoring has made no impact on the eel grass. So the arguments against anchoring are?
 
MAD FRANKIE said:
I have just read the Final Report of the Studland Seagrass and Seahorse Study Group on the wonderful PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT 2009 which cost £9300 . ...... £2250 of which was the cost of Admin for 3 months and a further £3100 for beach wardens again for 3 months....? I shall try to attach it to a later post in this thread once I get a better signal from my laptop ...probably tomorrow .
However, below is a Survey Chart showing the location of the Sea Grass beds in 1991 which was part of an Enviromental Impact Study for BP in relation to their outlined HOOK ISLAND plans for extracting oil from Poole Bay.
Click to expand...

I assume that with all this talk about whether the seagrass is suffering from the anchoring, there must be a something from 2008/2009 that can be compared with the BP study. At least that would be one fact for one side or other of the discussion to use to strengthen there argument.
Allan
 
Last edited:
Allan said:
I assume that with all this talk about whether the seagrass is suffering from the anchoring, there must be a something from 2008/2009 that can be compared with the BP study. At least that would be one fact for one side or other of the discussion to use to strengthen there argument.
Allan
Click to expand...

There is the Crown Estates sponsored survey in conjunction with Dorset Wildlife Trust Click Here but the Seahorse Trust have already rubbished this survey preferring their own reasearch which they won't publish yet.
 
Allan said:
As can be seen above I have taken an interest in the debate about seahorses in Studland bay. As Neil of the seahorse trust has stopped posting on here and many people have been critical of him for not posting facts from surveys, I have found a few comments that I have SELECTED from a 2007 survey published on the seahorse trust website. The lines between sections have been added by me to ensure it is obvious where I made cuts. I would add that as someone who loves wildlife I was quite distressed by some of the photographs showing these fragile creatures being deliberately captured and mutilated. I have reported my thoughts to the Heritage Lottery fund and the Charity commission.
Allan
--------------------------------------------
HABITATS
Its been long thought that all Seahorses live just in Eel grass beds, slowly this is being
disproved and the evidence from The British Seahorse Survey reports 2002, 2003, 2004
and now 2007 show this to be far from the case, H.guttulatus does seem to be found
more in Eel Grass than H.hippocampus but the choice of habitats is wide spread from
Eel grass to man made objects and marinas, it shows that both species are highly
adaptable and will probably select habitats based firstly on food availability and secondly
on the type of habitat.
_________________________________________________________________

Another sighting of note was by Sue Daly from Jersey in August 2006, [Sue is
also the surveys coordinator for the Channel Islands] she reported a sighting
from a marina where a group of children had been ‘netting’ seahorses alongside
the pontoons where the boats were moored up, the children had found
approximately 30 Seahorses of a variety of sizes from juvenile down to fry.
Sue went down the following day to check out the site and found another small
group of 8 seahorses.
We know from previous sightings that the Seahorses are breeding in this location
and Sue has videoed Seahorses in the marina before.
__________________________________________________________________

Conclusion
Seahorses in the British Isles and Ireland are better understood now than they were 13
years ago when the survey was started, we have a better idea of the habitat preferences of
the 2 species and we better understand their distribution and their migratory patterns.
We now know for certain they are resident in our waters and breeding; the assumption is
the population, although not a very common animal is indeed stable and hopefully
subject to no marine or environmental disasters will remain so.
In this day and age of Global Warming doom and gloom scenarios it is refreshing to see
an exotic tropical looking animal that is not here because of the Global Warming but
because it has always been a resident here; they were even recorded by the Picts on their
stone carvings during their occupation of the British Isles.
The increased knowledge gained by the survey has allowed us to target areas of known
populations to gain and even better understanding and as the survey continues we will
break down some of the barriers and gaps in our knowledge.
This knowledge can only be gained by the kindness of others giving up their free time to
search for the Seahorses and with better promotion of the survey via the internet and the
media we will get more volunteers helping us in our work. The network of coordinators
throughout the country has proved to be a valuable system in reporting sightings and to
gain a better local knowledge of the people finding Seahorses and the habitat they live in.
Even with the knowledge we have after 13 years of the survey there is still an even
greater need for more knowledge and as the survey goes on into its 14th year and beyond
we will be adding to the large database we have so we can get a greater understanding of
one of the British Isles must elusive but enigmatic species; whose future will hopefully
remain a positive one.
Click to expand...

That is quite damning and has never been mentioned by Neil and Steve.

So, why are they targeting Studland bay? Why haven't they tried to close down the Jersey marina and the other marinas? Why haven't they produced another smoking turd?

I hope someone is saving all these articles in case they suddenly disappear?
 
That all seems quite cheap. £9300 to put a few people on the beach for the main part of the summer, telling people the answers that the studies are surposed to be looking for! (See:- frequently asked questions list and generic responses.)
Allan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Top