1/16/2024 0 Comments Blue planet sea of life coral seas![]() ![]() Research has also demonstrated how they can assist in fisheries management, providing refuges for species to thrive and producing more planktonic offspring that can float out of the protected areas and help to re-seed areas for miles around.Īgreed in 2010 as part of the Aichi targets, the global goal under the Convention on Biological Diversity is for 10% of marine areas to be well-managed by 2020: in the UK 23% of the sea is now within some form of MPA. Similarly, British seagrass meadows act as nursery areas for many species, including commercial species such as plaice and flounder.Įvidence from around the world has shown how MPAs – marine protected areas – can safeguard marine life against the most serious threats, allow habitats to recover, and diversity and abundance to increase. So protecting horse mussels is about sustaining a growing economic use of the sea. A food-rich nursery – like a horse mussel reef, with safe places to hide from predators – gives them a chance to survive. Whelks lay their eggs on the seabed (those papery, honeycomb masses you sometimes find washed up on the shore), and the baby whelks usually stay close to home. Researchers at Heriot-Watt University, the Scottish Association for Marine Science and St Abbs Marine Station, working with the Welsh fishing industry, recently made the link between horse mussel reefs and common whelk fisheries, a growing industry in some parts of the British Isles. The UK has a long maritime heritage, and fishing and other marine industries are part of our culture and economy, still sustaining livelihoods around the coast. Conservation of the marine environment has to be balanced with people’s use of the sea. Protecting them isn’t only about biodiversity. Degraded habitats can no longer support the same diversity of species, and the more severe the impact, the more likely they are to undergo a phase shift that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to recover. Seahorses and their relatives pipefish are often associated with eelgrass.īut complex habitats such as horse mussel reefs and seagrass meadows are highly vulnerable to destruction by certain sorts of fishing gear, offshore development and other direct physical impacts. British seagrass (known as eelgrass) grows best in just a few metres of water, making it well-lit and accessible to divers. Seagrass meadows are among the most threatened habitats in the world. ‘Squat lobsters wave their claws in the current to catch passing food.’ Photograph: Paul Naylorīlue Planet II has showcased the importance of marine vegetation. Squat lobsters, tiny and red, wave their claws in the current to catch passing food. Their shells are encrusted with sponges, coral-like seaweed and countless animals. The mussels build the seabed up into mounds and platforms that jump with life. My favourite British Isles habitat is the horse mussel reef, where giant, elderly mussels (not unlike the deep-sea mussels Blue Planet II shows growing on the shores of a brine lake) knit themselves together with hundreds of other creatures to form a teeming, brightly coloured community to rival a tropical reef. The carpet sea squirt has invaded marinas around the UK and has proved costly to deal with, while Pacific oysters, introduced deliberately for aquaculture, are outcompeting native species. In many waters invasive species are proliferating, some assisted by rising sea temperatures, hitching rides on boats and using marine constructions as stepping stones. Impacts around the UK range from leatherback turtles dying when plastic bags they mistake for their favoured jellyfish prey block their digestive tracts, to masses of tiny plastic filaments turning up in the stomachs of langoustines. ![]() Plastic pollution is rightly recognised as one of the major threats to marine life and it is ubiquitous. Last week the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean revealed a 10% increase in litter on British beaches, with a high proportion of plastic packaging and smaller fragments. TV series such as Coast and Britain’s Secret Seas, along with wildlife and environmental groups, have done a huge amount of work to raise awareness, but many people are still more knowledgable about tropical reefs than kelp forests and the riches to be found just off our own shores. Unless we care about these rich ecosystems, we will lose them. This is dangerous because, like oceans around the world, our seas are under serious threat. Yet there seems to be an enduring misconception that the waters around these islands are murky, boring and largely devoid of anything exciting. These deeper waters are home to vast, cold-water coral reefs that can be over 8,000 years old, and are as fragile and colourful as their tropical counterparts. While we’re most familiar with our shallow coastal waters, offshore areas of the UK and Ireland can reach depths of over 5,000 metres. ![]()
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