The post below reproduces the content of the Solent Forum Newsletter emailed to the forum members in April 2023 with content reproduced here by kind permission.

Use the following table of contents to jump to a specific topic.

Archaeology and Heritage

Research is shining a light on the women who worked at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard during the First World War, known as the Triangle Girls.
This month, the iconic chairlift over Alum Bay at the Needles will celebrate 50 years in operation.

Biodiversity and Conservation

The Sussex Kelp Recovery Project is celebrating our hidden underwater forests and it is now two years since 300km² of seabed was protected from bottom trawling. The early signs of recovery are positive, and the process of renewal can be seen.
LNRS statutory guidance has been published. Para 42 states: Coastal local nature recovery strategies are required to follow the relevant local authorities’ boundaries. This usually means extending into the inter tidal zone as far as low water but can be further around river estuaries. Coastal responsible authorities should consider how to factor in neighbouring marine areas and plans in their strategies.
Natural England’s Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Delivery Partnership would like to invite any marine organisations/groups at a local, regional or national level to join the partnership to identify opportunities for collaboration and nature recovery. If interested, please get in touch with the NRN Delivery Partnership mailbox at: ndpnaturerecovery@naturalengland.org.uk to be added to the partnership list. You will receive regular updates from the Network and invitations to events throughout the year.
Working closely with the River Hamble Harbour Authority and local contractors Jenkins Marine, Blue Marine finished laying the foundations for the largest oyster restoration reef in the Solent on 31 March. A mixture of shingle and cockleshell, known as ‘cultch’, has been placed over 2,500 square metres of seabed in the River Hamble and will provide a home for 30,000 oysters to attach and grow in the coming weeks.
Blue Marine’s project partners, Chichester Harbour Protection & Recovery of Nature, moved 2500 cubic meters of dredged sediment from Chichester marina to near Itchenor at the end of February. The work is part of an innovative trial to rebuild the shoreline and reverse saltmarsh decline in Chichester harbour, using a ‘Saltmarsh Restoration Drag Box’.
LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES met with people at the East Cowes Sailing Club to talk about a proposed Voluntary No Anchor Zone at Osborne Bay. Find out more at: Osborne-Bay-VNAZ-Proposal.pdf (saveourseabed.co.uk).
Southern Water is joint funding a dedicated manager role with the RSPB, which will focus on developing a landscape scale nature recovery strategy to strengthen restoration work in and around Chichester, Langstone and Pagham harbours.

Boating and Watersports

Collective Spirit, the 2012 yacht built from thousands of donations of wooden items can be seen at the South Coast Boat Show on 21-23 April at Ocean Village, Southampton.
Bird Aware’s watersports with wildlife map is designed to help people reduce any disturbance to protected birds and habitats. It pinpoints wildlife friendly exit and entry points as well where to find amenities like cars parks and toilets. It provides a short description of each site and a few suggested wildlife friendly paddle routes.
British Canoeing, along with the North Wales Wildlife Trust, have developed a kit for all paddlers to help stop the spread of non-native species in the UK.
The retro Whitbread Round the World Race will start and finish at MDL’s Ocean Village Marina in Southampton. On 10 September 2023, over 160 sailors will depart onboard the 15 yachts to complete the four leg, 30,000 mile race around the world via the three great capes: Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin, and South America’s Cape Horn. Onboard the pre-1988 sailing boats the international crews will navigate using only a sextant, charts and the stars.
All-in-one navigation app savvy navvy had the ability to update its charts to alert users to avoid using the water and beaches in the Poole Harbour area following the recent oil spill incident.
Read a blog about how Sail Electric recently refitted Nazca, their research and development vessel – a 1984 Contessa 34 Offshore One Design with an electric engine.
The Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order came into force on 31 March 2023 which enables relevant agencies more powers to prosecute people for the dangerous misuse of watercraft. The legislation defines a Watercraft as a “craft capable of moving under its own mechanical power” and includes Personal Watercraft (commonly referred to as jet skis). It also puts a responsibility on the owner of the watercraft to ensure that they take “all reasonable steps to ensure that the watercraft is operated in a safe manner”. If you own a jet ski and you let others use it, you may be responsible for their actions. The Hampshire Marine Unit will work alongside partner agencies including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Harbourmasters to educate, enforce and prosecute those operating powered watercraft and vessels in a reckless, dangerous or inappropriate manner.
British Canoeing has announced the appointment of Samantha Rutt as the new Stand up Paddleboarding (SUP) lead for the organisation. The newly created lead officer is in response to British Canoeing’s new recognition status as a National Governing Body for Stand Up Paddleboarding, confirmed recently by Sport England.

Business and Industry

Ocean Business takes place on 18 – 20 April 2023 at the NOC, it is free to attend register at: https://www.oceanbusiness.com/. The event attracts up to 8000 visitors, from 70 countries, it covers all marine tech and lots of new items coming to market. As part of the event there is over 185 hours of free training and demonstration some of which is on the water.
Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) are investigating the potential climate change mitigation benefits of farming seaweed alongside offshore wind arrays. The €1.5 million project is funded through Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund.
Sunseeker International has launched a new training initiative to address a national skills shortage affecting the marine industry. The Sunseeker Skills Academy, developed in partnership with Bournemouth and Poole College, is open to those seeking a career change, offering individuals the opportunity to undertake a paid, 12-week intensive boat-building course.
MDL Marinas is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. To kick off the celebrations, it is launching a new website (https://www.mdlmarinas.co.uk/mdl50th/) showcasing the company’s history and telling the stories of those who’ve been a part of MDL’s 50-year journey.
James Hassett will be joining the Solent Freeport as its first Chief Executive in June 2023.

Coastal Communities

A new ‘Theatre of the Sea’ is taking shape at Southsea Castle as work continues on Portsmouth’s sea defence scheme. A tiered seating area is being installed which will help to create a split-level promenade, replacing the existing walkway around the Castle, and creating a way to better showcase the city’s sea views.

PfSH has commissioned Land Use Consultants to identify the key strategic opportunities to protect and enhance Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) within South Hampshire. One of their aims is to build up a clear picture of existing strategic GBI projects across the region (e.g. suitable alternative natural green spaces, SANGs, or Country Parks), as well as any such projects that are under development. If you have any relevant work, please send details to: Olivia.Dunham@landuse.co.uk.
Working with the Solent LEP Careers Hub, Maritime UK are setting up the Maritime Education Project, to support Solent-based schools and colleges to provide positive maritime sector careers guidance as part of their curriculum. Young people in year 8 will be targeted to help them see the importance and application of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in maritime organisations.

Work has started on a new trail that will take visitors on a tour of the unique history, character, and ecology of the Hamble Peninsula. Schofield Groundworks are installing the Parish posts, wayfinding markers and maps for the new Trails that will be available for families to discover in the coming months. The project has been funded through the South Western Railway Customer and Communities Improvement Fund and developer contributions made to Eastleigh Borough Council from local development schemes.
UKSA in Cowes has announced it is a finalist in the 2023 School Travel Awards which recognise inspiring people and the best companies, venues and attractions which provide school trips.

Fisheries

Up to £1 million has been made available for coastal communities across the UK to invest in new and improved infrastructure for recreational sea fishing. Applications close on 19 June.
Catchwise is a ground-truthing survey of recreational sea angling taking place across England and Wales in 2023 and 2024. Substance, the Angling Trust and Cefas have partnered to deliver this project. It will be the biggest single study of sea angling undertaken for over a decade and will involve a major shore and private boat survey of sea anglers as well as a survey of charter boat.

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management

After pausing all work close to the sea during the winter to protect overwintering birds, Coastal Partners are commencing work at Eastern Road. As construction work will be moving further south along Eastern Road, linking in with the finished area of previous phase 2 at Milton Common, the coastal path will be closed from mid-March until autumn 2023.
A short film from Coastal Partners highlights upgraded flood defences and a regenerated area in Portsmouth. Combining interviews and drone footage, this short film shows innovative flood management whilst offering a community destination for generations to come.

Grants, Jobs, Funding and Research

Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have led a new report for the UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) that spells out the rate of ocean warming taking place around the UK. According to the report, sea surface temperatures around the UK have shown a significant warming trend of around 0.3°C per decade over the last 40 years. These values are in line with the expected increase due to human influenced warming.
The 2023/2024 Championing Coastal Coordination Expression of Interest (EOI) funding round is now open. For more info see Championing Coastal Coordination – Environment Agency – Citizen Space (environment-agency.gov.uk). It has changed slightly from last year and natural capital and restoration planning is more explicitly included. The deadline for EOI submissions is Friday 19th May 2023.
Marine and freshwater biologist Professor Graham Underwood has been appointed as the new Chair of the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership (UKBCEP). Launched at COP26, the UKBCEP’s mission is to protect and restore blue carbon habitats as a nature-based solution to climate change.

Litter and Plastics

MCS’ new year-round, beach clean report is out. It showed that the amount of litter recorded on beaches decreased by 11% across the UK and Channel Islands compared to 2021, with each nation seeing a reduction. Overall, the number of litter items found per 100m decreased by 38% since 2016, when litter levels peaked. Plastic continues to pollute beaches, with plastic and polystyrene accounting for 81.5% of all litter recorded.
Significantly higher concentrations of microplastics than previously recorded on a national survey around Great Britain’s coastline have been reported by scientists at the University of Portsmouth. In some areas it amounts to almost 100 times more than data published six years ago. Research also showed the presence of a species of shrimp not normally found this far north, which could be an indicator of climate change and warming seas. The data was collected last summer by teams competing in the GB Row Challenge, a 2,000-mile event that circumnavigates Great Britain.
With improving weather lots more people are getting out and about collecting litter from around the Solent. We have lots of resources on this topic and help to reduce plastic waste on our Solent Plastics Pollution hub.
Fancy joining a beach clean with the Final Straw Foundation? Event details of cleans around the Solent are available on their website.

Ports, Harbours and Shipping

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation‘s Sanctuary Sustainable Business Award was won by the Queen Elizabeth Class Logistics Centre project for the best larger scale or commercial project delivering sustainable solutions to support the Armed Forces.
Listen to a podcast from the Maritime Innovation Sound Waves – Podcast Episode 4: Green Ports featuring Portsmouth International Port.
Read an interesting article about HMS Echo and HMS Enterprise the Royal Navy’s hydrographic oceanographic survey vessels (SVHO).
Watch Mike Sellers, Port Director at Portsmouth International Port, talk about adapting to the new norm since the pandemic: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mZUk-Y3EpJw&t=1454s…
Estudio Cactus, in cooperation with Portsmouth International Port, has been awarded £100,000 to trial its health, safety, security and environment software to provide operators with real-time information to improve resource management. This is one nine projects that have been awarded a total of £1.2 million by the UK government through Connected Places Catapult’s first accelerator programme as part of the Freight Innovation Fund.
A Royal Navy warship that has seized millions of pounds of drugs and illegal shipments of missiles has been decommissioned from the fleet at the end of its nearly 30-year career. Former crew and family bid farewell to Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Recreation and Tourism

A derelict former royal barracks on the Isle of Wight looks set to be transformed into an education and training facility, as part of a £5.8 million regeneration plan for East Cowes. The Victoria Barracks on the esplanade has been earmarked as a new base for UKSA.
Up to £1 million has been made available for coastal communities across the UK to invest in new and improved infrastructure for recreational sea fishing. Eligible applicants will be able to bid for between £10,000 and £100,000. Deadline is 19 June 2023.

Water Quality

On Monday 24th April between 6pm and 8pm Southern Water’s Clean Rivers and Sea Taskforce will be delivering a presentation about how the storm overflows will be reduced on the Isle of Wight. The meeting takes place at East Cowes Town Hall, York Way.

Consultations

Government is seeking views on proposals to enhance the monitoring of storm overflows and final effluent discharges into watercourses. Deadline 23 May.
Government is calling for evidence to create a comprehensive view of the impact of nutrient neutrality advice on development. Deadline 24 May.
The New Forest National Park Authority is asking people for their views on the involvement of communities and stakeholders in the planning process. Deadline is 5 June.