Communications Officer – Conservation
Five years ago, the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project (SKRP) was born. The story starts with seaweed.
Kelp, a large, flat-edged, brown seaweed, used to be plentiful off the Sussex coast. Imagine these towering underwater giants beneath the waves; an abundant forest of the deep, creating shelter, habitat and food for all manner of marine creatures. Fish such as Black Sea Bream would welcome the cover to dig and spawn in gravel nests, undisturbed. Blue Mussels would provide a grounding for the kelp to attach to, and in turn engineer further habitat and food for others, like Common Starfish and Plaice.
The ocean bed and chalk reef outcrops would be wriggling and writhing with life; scuttling Spider Crabs, swaying siphons of ethereal-looking Piddocks and the occasional chilled-out fin-flap of a semi-hidden Undulate Ray. Larger marine mammals like seals and dolphins would benefit from these supreme hunting grounds, and from above, Gannets would spear the surface to take their fill of the plentiful beneath-the-waves buffet. And so, safely and sustainably, could we.
In the 1980s things began to change. Storms, marine heatwaves and poor water quality had a negative effect on Sussex kelp, and persistent damage had been caused by intensive and regular trawling of the seabed for commercial fishing. This destructive and indiscriminate practice decimated the biodiversity of the Sussex seabed. By the end of the century, 96% of Sussex kelp was lost, and with it, the house it built. The whole ecosystem had been wiped out, in repeated, traumatic acts of destruction. All happening under the waves; beneath our noses, yet out of sight.
But some people did notice. Legislators, scientists, sustainable fishers. Divers and filmmakers. All witnessing the loss of this once thriving ecosystem and knowing it had to stop. Sussex IFCA formed a case for a Nearshore Trawling Byelaw, and local production company Big Wave created Help our Kelp, a film narrated by the great Sir David Attenborough. Other organisations joined the fight, and a pioneering campaign of the same name was launched. People watched, read and listened. Sussex was indignant, and we exercised our power through active support.
It worked. From 18 March 2021, trawling was prohibited from 304 square kilometres off the Sussex coast. Stretching from Chichester in the west to Rye in the east, the byelaw is one of the largest in the UK. An incredible conservation achievement, and a monumental piece of legislation. Replicable, too, as trawling still occurs across much of our UK shores.
The campaign collective became the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project; eleven organisations*, co-ordinated by Sussex Wildlife Trust, that have continued to monitor, advocate for and celebrate the recovery of our Sussex seabed.
The benefits are underway; Black Sea Bream and Blue Mussels are already on the increase. But nature takes time to recover, especially after such persistent and unsustainable devastation. 96% of one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth won’t recover overnight, and these last five years have been focused on laying down the groundwork to enable the slow and steady return of these great forests, and their many inhabitants, to our seas. Rewilding our ocean, piece by piece. With patience and continued collaboration, the story of our Sussex shores gets wilder each year. Although it started it all, really, kelp is just the beginning.
*Sussex Wildlife Trust, Blue Marine Foundation, Zoological Society of London, Queen Mary University of London, University of Brighton, Adur & Worthing Councils, Sussex Underwater, Big Wave Productions, Sussex IFCA, University of Exeter, University of Sussex
