Studland - MMO Management protocols for the MCZ in place from 17th December

[doug748]

Just to say that what has happened at Studland Bay is part of a broader picture negatively impacting a range of relatively harmless pastimes, involving Natural England and other authorities as well.

My other interest is building and flying radio-controlled gliders, both slope and thermal soaring, not intrusive drones nor noisy powered model aircraft (which typically fly from private fields etc), just silent-flight gliding which is as close to nature as one can get. These activities have recently also come under attack in certain locations, e.g.:

Dartmoor Model Gliding Ban

St Agnes Head Slope Soaring Ban

A quick internet search also reveals banning proposals on model flying in the New Forest (even at an 80 year old club site) all based upon the disturbance to ground-nesting birds argument, etc.

I'm all for a clean, green environment and supporting nature where it is excessively threatened, whilst maintaining a balance between competing interests and activities, but I fear that there has arisen an aggressively ideological movement which in its virtue-seeking purity has jettisoned proportionality and casts ordinary hobbyists (sailors, model glider enthusiasts, campers, cyclists, etc) as the enemy.

Amen to that.

Natural England are "conducting discussions" on the reintroduction of wildcats. Fat chance for ground nesting birds if these characters get their way.


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[chrishscorp]

Any of you who sail the Solent will know Daedalous airport, Spitfires regularly fly out of there, well NE have declared it a secondary site for Brent Geese not sure what effect that will have on the site, but one birder whom i think was in the glider club said in 50 years he has never spotted Brent geese there and they carry out regular detailed bird counts and checks. Local council has just poured £53M into the site.

There appears to be no evidence whatsoever for these birds to have ever roosted there, NE seem to me to be completely out of control.

Fury as Natural England decides that an airport is an important area for Brent geese | The News (portsmouth.co.uk)

 

[Lodestone]

Agreed, the case for propagation by disturbance is purely anecdotal, based on observations made during research on eelgrass. It was not within the scope of the research that was being done so was not followed through. But iirc at least 2 if not 3 researchers commented on apparently speedier propagation following disturbance.

Conservation history is littered with examples of attempts to modify the environment which have gone seriously wrong. In Australia a no take conservation was set up to rpotect a colony of rare seahorses. Unfortunately the stock of fish that fed on them also grew significantly because they were no longer being caught, and ate up all the seahorses.....!

The view that all anthropomorphic influence is detrimental can cause untold damage after cenbturied of interaction. I strongly suspect that history will show a similar deterioration in Studland. Man and nature have co-existed there for centuries, dropping anchors large and small there. A large part of the bay is covered in healthy eelgrass - concentrated particularly where we have been anchoring for nearly a century. Only History will tell.

We interfere with existing natural balances at our peril if we do not fully understand the hugely complex forces involved, and of which man is part. That cuts both ways of course: the massive increase in sewage and agricualtural nitrate run off is seriously affecting large parts of our coastline too.

Studland has a major nitrates pollution problem, with one of the highest nitrate levels in UK waters (Unwin and Jones, 2016 -17). This is a huge and well documented threat to eelgrass, with potentially serious adverse effects on Zostera Marina, which have aleady been recorded there. I have seen it myself. But anchoring is clearly identified as the only significant threat to the eelgrass beds in the NE reports! But we cannot find any evidence of the 'damage' it is said to be causing to the integrity of the eelgrass meadows, although we have looked right across the central part of the anchorage.

I came across an academic paper on seagrass recently where the author(s) openly stated that agricultural run off was one of the largest threats. However as they felt it was almost impossible to address they recommended going after anchoring as an easy win! I've temporarily mislaid the link, if i can find it I'll post it.

 

[Yealm]

Any of you who sail the Solent will know Daedalous airport, Spitfires regularly fly out of there, well NE have declared it a secondary site for Brent Geese not sure what effect that will have on the site, but one birder whom i think was in the glider club said in 50 years he has never spotted Brent geese there and they carry out regular detailed bird counts and checks. Local council has just poured £53M into the site.

There appears to be no evidence whatsoever for these birds to have ever roosted there, NE seem to me to be completely out of control.

Fury as Natural England decides that an airport is an important area for Brent geese | The News (portsmouth.co.uk)

The press article actually said brent geese and waders. No relevant references were given so it’s impossible for the causal reader to say if NE are correct or not. It would seem odd if academics/scientists were misinformed or lying- but evidence is key!

 

[chrishscorp]

No the group in question that did the count were the Solent waders and Brent geese strategy group, only Brent geese are mentioned.

Portsmouth City Council had a similar problem part of the common was being used that the geese sometimes land on and they were made to fence off the whole Castle Fields site 1/2 mile away with a 6 foot fence to give the birds an alternative site, trouble is NE forgot to email the Brent Geese and tell them that so none of them used it....

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I'm looking at this particularly intensely as the Royal Solent moorings off Yarmouth sea front are also in a seagrass area, and mutterings have been heard. They've been there since the 1910's. The seagrass is still there, doing quite nicely as far as you can tell. It would be the end of XOD sailing in Yarmouth if they were to close down the moorings.

 

[chrishscorp]

I'm looking at this particularly intensely as the Royal Solent moorings off Yarmouth sea front are also in a seagrass area, and mutterings have been heard. They've been there since the 1910's. The seagrass is still there, doing quite nicely as far as you can tell. It would be the end of XOD sailing in Yarmouth if they were to close down the moorings.

There since 1910s they wont give a monkeys about that
Seagrass doing well .......that will be in spite of your moorings, it will do even better when there not there....

If you have heard mutterings take them very seriously they would like to do what they have at Studland to large areas of the Solent as well.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

We are on our guard over it. For now, they have slightly redrawn the conservation map. In the future they’ll no doubt have another go.

 

[oldharry]

I'm looking at this particularly intensely as the Royal Solent moorings off Yarmouth sea front are also in a seagrass area, and mutterings have been heard. They've been there since the 1910's. The seagrass is still there, doing quite nicely as far as you can tell. It would be the end of XOD sailing in Yarmouth if they were to close down the moorings.

No chance.
1 The seagrass is THERE. End of.
2. "Doing quite nicely as far as you can see" Thats how Studland looked to us when we did our own video survey. Well up to standards classified as 'normal' in every seagrass bed that has been studied, worldwide. (we found 26 species specific reports on Zostera marina) But you dont have the special x-ray vision of the NE 'experts' who apparently can see things we mere mortals cannot! As it has moorings in it it it will be 'in need of recovery' whatever that means. What it does mean is that once NE experts have spoken you will have no say in matters.
3. When they are lifted for inspection, MMO will not allow you to lay the existing ground tackle. You will have to use 'eco friendly mooring tackle' That or no moorings.

If you haven't already, take a look at our website: Welcome

We got them off the Osborne Bay anchorage with its seagrass for the first round. It's back in their sites again.

 

[st599]

There since 1910s they wont give a monkeys about that
Seagrass doing well .......that will be in spite of your moorings, it will do even better when there not there....

If you have heard mutterings take them very seriously they would like to do what they have at Studland to large areas of the Solent as well.

Luckily the RYA are investigating moorings which don't disturb sea beds.

 

[st599]

Conservation is the priority at Studland warns MMO.

Rather than copy and paste.

 

[oldharry]

Luckily the RYA are investigating moorings which don't disturb sea beds.

They would be foolish not to: MMO specify environmentally friendly mooring types must be used on all new deep water moorings. Tidal moorings are an issue because there is no way of preventing them sweeping the seabed as the tide drops.... Many EFM types actually do much more damage if they do contact the seabed, and have proved unsuitable for UK's big tidal ranges and fast currents.

Far better RYA does it than NE who dont know a bow from a bowline continue to try to dictate to us.

 

[Dunx]

We’re anchored in Studland at the moment. We had planned to use the new buoys they have put in but disappointingly they have a 10 tonne limit so have anchored outside the current zone. Surely bigger boats tend to have bigger anchors so perhaps making provision for them might assist in reducing anchor usage. At 43 we are not a massive boat and it is in the zone the ‘yachting press’ now describe as a nice entry level
Size..

 

[oldharry]

Reminder that Phase 2 of the VNAZ in Studand MCZ comes into force today.

MMO have been and will be present over much of the Holiday weekend 'to engage with boaters'

See the full text of their statement issued today, in the separate thread below

 

[DJE]

MMO have been and will be present over much of the Holiday weekend 'to engage with boaters'

Wouldn't mind eavesdropping on some of those "engagements". Expect it will get quite fruity at times.

 

[chrishscorp]

Wouldn't mind eavesdropping on some of those "engagements". Expect it will get quite fruity at times.

I am on a facebook page that was set up to cover the changes at Studland and it is quite clear some think its all about seahorses and its voluntary init so we can do what we like

So I guess we sit back and wait for the mandatory ban

 

[Lodestone]

It's going so well. NMG's GofundMe campaign for £100K to fund ecomoorings races ahead. Launched in August '21 it has so far made the heady sum of £2347.
Installing Ecomoorings, organized by Neil Garrick-Maidment

Are there any realistic plans to put any more in? Was the original Boatfolk effort tokenism?

 

[oldharry]

Another chance to have your say about how things are going in Studland: "Studland Bay Marine Partnership | Dorset Coast Have Your Say "

 

[Pete7]

Another chance to have your say about how things are going in Studland: "Studland Bay Marine Partnership | Dorset Coast Have Your Say "

Done, some interesting statistics on the results so far are presented at the end of the survey. The consensus is close in, not far out and no we nor local clubs should have to pay for them. Opportunity for a free text answer as well to add your comments on the ideas.

 

[Boathook]

Just filled in both sections. Thanks for forwarding the link oldharry.