Marine Conservation Society: Lancashire area group

On  the morning of Friday 11th. May about thirty people came along to Sandylands at Morecambe to help clear and record items of  litter from a long stretch of the beach.  The event was organised by the Marine Conservation Society and sponsored by Marks and Spencer as part of the Big Beach Watch weekend with similar events taking place all around the UK.  After collecting the obvious items, bottles, drinks cans and all manner of items made from plastic attention turned to the large sea defence boulders at the top of the beach. It was from here that the bulk of the litter came, mostly in the form of rope, fishing net and plastic strapping band which filled a large number of plastic sacks.  Marine litter is a massive problem, not only around the UK, but world wide. It is estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile in the world’s oceans.  Marine litter is an eyesore, it costs everyone money to  remove it and also the cost to the local economy,  its  a health hazard to both wildlife and human beings alike. Discarded plastic can be regarded as the major pollution problem of the 21st century both at sea and on the land.  After a snack lunch provided by M&S a small group enjoyed a walk along the shore at Half Moon Bay, Heysham organised by Lancs. Local MCS Group where we spent an hour or so looking at the many different plants and animals to be found there.  The next beach clean/litter survey will take place at Half Moon Bay, Heysham on Saturday 16th. June at 12.00hrs. If possible please come along and help to combat this massive marine litter problem, it will be an hour well spent.

Seven members of the group were joined by four members of Preston SAC on a long weekend trip based at Tralee bay about ten miles north of Oban.  Weather and conditions were good giving us the opportunity to explore the surrounding coast and hills and enabling us to dive a number of sites in Loch Creran including Creagan Inn Bay, the narrows between the inner and outer basins, a rocky reef on the south side of the inner basin and the serpulid worm reefs.  A long drift dive on the flood tide through the narrows was described as at the very least exhilarating.  Lewis spotted a cling fish on one dive but was unable to stop in the current to photograph it and Ron found a flame shell in the narrows just after using the last frame on the film.  The final dive of the weekend was from the old railway pier at Kentallon on Loch Linnhe. A swim of about 200 metres from the pier out into the loch brings you to a quite spectacular vertical wall with an abundance of marine life, a great dive to end a well organised weekend, thanks to Gordon.

Burrbo Bank & Walney offshore wind farms on Wednesday 9th May was an excellent talk to the group by Peter Sills of DONG Energy. His account of the engineering and political challenges to building offshore wind-farms was fascinating, and resulted in a friendly debate that engaged everyone in the audience.

Wind energy is likely to become a vital part of the energy mix in the UK over the next 20 years, and offshore exploitation does generate less public opposition than land based turbines. For marine life, the hard substrates used to protect cables and turbines from scour provides additional habitat, and the ban on trawling within the farm may be a valuable protection for life that makes use of the softer sea bottom common in the area.

The development of this new mixed ecosystem is likely to be quite interesting…

Thanks again to Peter for his long journey up to visit us!

The Chagos Conservation Trust reports that in the year to April 2012 “…there was significant progress in developing and prioritising the necessary scientific research to support the conservation and long-term management of the world’s largest no-take marine reserve. Crucially, too, there has been a dramatic increase in the interest and involvement of the international scientific community in research relating to the Chagos archipelago.”

The full report is available from their website through the link below:

Chagos Anniversary Progress Report (PDF 172kB)

Lochaline has become firm favourite and a regular Easter venue for members of the group over the last few years. This year six members and a friend spent four very pleasant days in this wonderful location.  Beautiful coastal scenery, excellent walking, places to visit, and the diving is also very good as well.  A walk along the Western shore of the loch passes a large silica sand mine, the white sand spilling out onto the shore creating what could  easily be mistaken for tropical coral sand beaches. Sand from the mine was used to produce high quality optical lenses for gun sights etc. during WW2.  Continuing along the loch there are a number of quite interesting geological features and on the loch itself many different species of water bird can be seen, Grey herons around every corner.  One member of our party out kayaking on the loch was fortunate enough to have a very close encounter with otters, the rest of us were green with envy.  Follow the track around the head of the loch and along the eastern shore to where a small stream tumbles down a small steep valley.  Search amongst the boulders and stones in the stream bed and you will be sure to find fossil oysters called Gryphaea that lived on the muddy shoreline of a tropical sea 200 million years ago.  Most of the diving  was from the easy access Hotel beach which leads gently down over the white sand with lots of tube anemones, Cerianthus lloydii to the top of the Lochaline wall,  an almost vertical rock face plunging down to great depths, well beyond the reach of most sport divers. Spectacular diving with a tremendous diversity of life, we have recorded more than 120 different species on the wall  to date with a new sighting this visit of a cuttle fish, Sepia officinalis to be added. There is still much more to be be recorded on future visits. There was also a dive on the shallow sea grass beds at Rubha-nan-Sornagon, Loch Linnhe, plenty of interesting marine life, notably lots of sea potatoes, Echinocardium pennatifidum.  Overall an excellent few days, with thanks to organisers, Barry & Jo, and the good weather was an added bonus.

Weather conditions for the site had been perfect for more than a week, so we travelled to Roa Island on Sunday 1st. April with high expectations of having a good interesting dive. Looking down on the water from the lifeboat gantry the conditions looked OK, so we kitted up and took the plunge.  Much to our surprise after we had covered only a few metres from the shore  the underwater visibility was no more than half a metre. It was quite light but there was very fine silt suspended in the water. As we progressed deeper it became more and more gloomy. At the deepest point (10.7m) in the middle of the channel it was completely dark and impossible to see anything. We swam slowly back up the slope to into shallower water, about (5m deep). here the bright sun penetrated the silty water a little more and the diverse marine life that we are used to seeing in the channel came into view. In the very small field of vision there were numerous species of crab, tiny anemones, sponges, common whelks, mussels and a small number of the  beautiful hydroid, Tubularia indivisa with tentacles extended. On returning to shore we  discovered that dredging operations were being carried out in the Channel and had been for a number of days.  This was the reason for the poor visibility and our far less than perfect dive. It was though the first of April !

Work by the Lancashire MCS group recording the Piel Channel is now available online. The work dates from the late 1980′s to the present day.

Thanks to Ron for bringing the data together for this; the full report is available through the link below:

Piel Channel survey

A couple of articles over the last few weeks do make interesting and/or disturbing reading: I think it is pretty much a given that for wild fisheries to have much chance of survival they must be managed. In this light recent gene marker studies on fish sales raise both hopes that we can now clearly identify the provenance of a fish on the fishmonger’s counter, and a warning that some existing certification schemes are not working as well as they need to. Farmed fish may be managed, but that also makes them subject to pretty unpleasant management practices, such as the practice of eye-stalk ablation, which apparently speeds maturity of black tiger shrimp…

We start, however, with one of the big stories in the popular press over the last few weeks, the latest estimate of the total number of species on the planet. To be pedantic we should perhaps say eukaryotic species, though the term ‘species’ is not very easy to apply to prokaryotes…
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This will be an informal event looking for and recording some of the creatures that can be found on the shore at Roa Island. Low tide is at 7:30pm and will be particularly low – at 0.5 metres it should expose more of the shore than most tides which means that many creatures that are often only seen by divers may be found. There are also some creatures that divers don’t normally see that are easier to find when the tide has gone out.

Suitable for all ages; children must be supervised by a responsible adult. Meet at the top of the Jetty next to the Lifeboat Station @6:15pm – map reference SD 232648.

What to bring?

Must haves -

• Wellies, sandals or other shoes that you don’t mind getting wet and probably a little muddy;
• The same applies to your clothes; also bring some warmer clothes – the shore is exposed so can feel chillier than places on shore.

Optional extras -

• A towel and a change of clothes just in case may be a good idea;
• Shallow trays or a bucket to put creatures in to study (but be sure to put them back carefully exactly where you find them!);
• A net;
• A camera – but be aware that sea water and cameras do not mix well, if you bring a camera and have a waterproof housing then please use it and in any case take extreme care on the shore not to drop (or even put) your camera into water;
• A torch – preferrably a waterproof one, or another good option would be a head torch (sunset is @8:10pm, dusk 8:45pm).

Anything that you bring or wear will be at your own risk.

If anyone wants to car share please let me know and I will try to arrange to meet at the westbound layby on the A65 about half a mile east of junction 36 of the M6 – map ref SD 541821. But note that timing will be a little tight for some of us to get away from work and get to the meeting point in time and that I will NOT do this unless it is requested and I can arrange to leave in time to get to Roa Island.

Contact: Lewis Bambury

Tel: 01524 414318
Mob: 07798 707318

The hardest coral on the reef may well be a softie, as much of the rocky structure of these reefs is found to derive from the sclerites from soft corals! This debate over how much support environmental agencies will grow as our economic worries deepen, how high up the scale do you put the environment? Essential for our continued existence on the planet, or jobs/hospitals now (environment later – maybe)? This week DSN reports on the debate in the US in our conservation leader. Our pollution section, however, points out that one of the most damaging aquatic pollutants – nitrogen from fertilisers – can be reduced while saving money and increasing yields…
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