Studland Seahorses

hmmmm i am not famililar with the area in question but cant belive so many boaters seem to not give a toss !!! personally if it was my favourite spot and an experiment was being carried out i would go along with it , especially if it proves that it was damageing sea horses , a programme i watched on tv seemed to be saying that these little creatures are very territorial and so if thier patch is wrecked they die . if thats the case i would rather anchor elsewhere . Roads , motorways , etc cant be equated to a leisure activity especially as its more a parking the boat issue ! it will be interesting to see the outcome , no one likes to be told what to do but give them a break .
 
Theoretically i would ardently support this as i think we need to protect the envirnoment. I do a bit of volunteering myself on local projects but I think the conclusion has already been reached on this. The Studland seahorse club want boats banned - witness the activities / outbursts of the project so far. Guven them being the driving force behind this I would challenge the project to commit to undertaking a scientifically valid study, publish it for peer review and then see what happens.

As we know that they won't I would say that the best bet for boaters is to render the study so pointless that even the quango has to admit that it was flawed. Best way to do this is ignore the no anchor zone or even deliberately drag a few anchors through it from a big fishing boat - new anchor test article???

There is also the civil liberties aspect here. Boats have anchored there for years - seahorses are still there so why the problem. We shouldn;t have our rights removed without damn good cause.

Maybe we should all lobby our local conservative candidates with this one as a candidate for cutting come June.
 
jac said:
There is also the civil liberties aspect here. Boats have anchored there for years - seahorses are still there so why the problem. We shouldn;t have our rights removed without damn good cause.
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So that's okay then, that's like saying I drive my car fast past schools and not killed anyone yet - so what's the problem.

The fact you can drop an anchor onto seahorses or drag an anchor through their habitat will kill them. The Seahorse habitat for all you know could thrive if left alone.

I think we can all use Studland and get along with each other and respect the Seahorse zone.
 
Scubadoo said:
The fact you can drop an anchor onto seahorses or drag an anchor through their habitat will kill them. The Seahorse habitat for all you know could thrive if left alone.

I think we can all use Studland and get along with each other and respect the Seahorse zone.
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I think this is missing the point see the site JHR referred to http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/studland-seahorses009.html#cr

It contains this quote

Studland Bay - Highest density of Seahorses in the world!
Since the discovery of Seahorses at Studland Bay, the site has proven to be internationally important and has thrown up some amazing surprises. The bay has a surprising concentration of Seahorses; with more than 40 in recorded in 2008. This density has made it a site of international importance as nowhere else in the British Isles, or indeed for that matter in the world; except the Rio Formosa in Portugal is there this concentration of Seahorses.


So they are doing well anyway - Leave them alone!
 
In Studland Bat at the moment, can see the voluntary exclusion zone. Not as big as I was expecting, probably only about 200 metres not quite square. I wonder just how much such a small area will tell, but what do I know??

No one anchored in the exclusion zone, but then I'm the only boat off the south beach. F4 NE so a bit up and downy!
 
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