Solent Forum News – June 2023 – Solent Protection Society

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

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

Archaeology and Heritage

Listen to the podcast, Women In Maritime – Uncharted Maritime Tales. Learn about daring tales of a woman who jumped into a well with improvised dive kit and went onto shape maritime archaeology, a teenage girl who was left alone on St Helen’s Fort in a storm and kept a light house running, saving many lives.

Biodiversity and Conservation

Watch a great animated video all about seagrass.
See Natural England’s formal conservation advice for Bembridge MCZ.
Blue Marine and RSPB have been working together to trial oyster baskets in The Old Oysterbeds, Hayling Island. These are managed by the RSPB and are one of the most important seabird nesting sites on the south coast. Blue Marine will be monitoring the baskets over the seabird breeding season to understand how the birds interact with them, with a view to installing further baskets in the autumn to on‐grow juvenile oysters if the trial is successful.
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) remains a major concern for the breeding season ahead and the RSPB believe that it is likely to impact on population recovery over the next five years, it is at present hard to assess.
Fareham BC are looking at introducing an additional seasonal dog exclusion zone at Hill Head during the winter months to safeguard protected birds. Hill Head experiences a high number of bird disturbance events, with 80% of these related to a dog’s presence or behaviour. A restriction on dogs between 1 October and 31 March, within a designated seasonal exclusion zone at Hill Head, is therefore proposed.
Natural England have published Re-evaluating the sensitivity of habitats to climate change (NECR478).
Chichester Harbour Protection and Recovery of Nature (CHaPRoN) is a partnership initiative to protect and restore nature within Chichester Harbour. It has just published its first Annual Review.

Boating and Watersports

Watersports with Wildlife has launched. This new resource helps paddle and wind sport enthusiasts coexist with nature. It includes an interactive watersports map (launch points, car parks, paddle routes, top tips, etc) to helps people enjoy their sport while ensuring coastal birds are not disturbed. Please contact julie.sims@hants.gov.uk if you would like printed copies of the paddle or wind sport leaflets.
At Studland Bay 21 new eco-moorings are due to be installed, including 10 x 10 tonne systems (as existing) and 11 x5 tonne systems, bringing the total number of eco-moorings in Studland to 31. Another 8 x5 tonne systems are also ready to go subject to marine licensing in the next phase.
Chichester Harbour Conservancy have issued a LNTM that Electric Hydrofoil Boards are not permitted to be used in the Harbour without the written permission of the Harbour Master. The impact of wind powered foiling craft is being monitored and those in charge of these craft are requested to maintain sufficient sea room and avoid getting into close quarters situations by avoiding busy channels, anchorages, and mooring areas.
Over 7.5 million adults participated in paddlesport activities last year, according to the annual Watersports Participation Survey 2022. The popularity of stand up paddleboarding continues to grow, with over three million adults participating at least one or two times in the discipline in 2022.
The Pro Sailing Tour, offshore sailing’s new competition, is coming to Cowes. It will host the event for the first time in 5-6 July, bringing high-speed multihull racing to the Solent.
From 05 – 09 June was The Green Blue’s Boating Wildlife Aware Week, a chance for boat and water users to learn more about best practice when experiencing wildlife out on the water and how to best protect it. The Green Blue shared guidance and information throughout the week across its social media channels.
British Canoeing has relaunched its Access & Environment Charter at a special event in Westminster.

Business and Industry

The Crown Estate has commissioned Additive.earth to explore and develop the concept of Aquaculture Enterprise Zones (AEZs) in England & Wales.
Watch a video of RRS Discovery’s refit filmed down in drydock in Rosyth, Scotland.
The APPG for the Ocean has launched an inquiry into the Future of Ocean Technology to look at innovative approaches to sustainable ocean technology and infrastructure. It is keen to hear from a wide range of UK and British Overseas Territories stakeholders; submissions are encouraged from any organisations, businesses and industry representatives who would like to contribute to the report and influence messaging to the new Departments for Science, Innovation and Technology and Energy Security and Net Zero as to how they can best support growth into the future of ocean technology. The deadline to submit written evidence is 16 July and the terms of reference and inquiry questions can be found here on the APPG’s website.
DP World is directly incentivising customers to move their imported goods off the road and onto rail in a major new initiative. It will be trialled at its logistics hub at Southampton from September for an initial period of 12 months.
The final plank has been laid in Wightlink’s new pedestrian walkway linking the FastCat terminal at Ryde Pier Head with Ryde Esplanade, which will be opened this summer.
Marine fast charge network operator Aqua superPower is a consortium that has secured £3.2m UK government funding to deliver a marine electric charging infrastructure along the UK’s south coast. The Electric Seaway project will create the infrastructure necessary to power the region’s growing fleet of electric maritime vessels. It will be targeted at leisure and commercial vessels under 24m in size. Chargers already in the Solent are located at Cowes, Ocean Village, Hamble Point and Trafalgar Wharf, Portsmouth.

Coastal Communities

Defra have published a Marine and coastal wildlife code. Its purpose is to provide guidance on how to reduce disturbance to marine wildlife when you visit the coast. There are some great Shaun the Sheep animations developed to go with it at: Shaun the Sheep and the Countryside Code – National Trails.
Plans for new waterfront housing development have been given the go ahead in Portsmouth. Housing association Vivid is proposing to build 835 homes in 11-storey tower blocks at Tipner East. The project includes 250 affordable homes and new sea defences. Portsmouth City Council granted the scheme planning permission.

Fisheries

The Solent Dredge Permit Byelaw came into force on the 1 November 2021. The byelaw introduces a single coherent management tool prohibiting the use of a dredge by means of a vessel within the Solent unless authorised by a permit. The application period for the 2023/24 season is open from the 23 May 2023 to 30th September 2023.

Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management

Piling work is being conducted at Southsea Castle from 21 June for two weeks, using a crane from a floating barge (weather permitting). Piles will be installed in front of the rock, with navigation markers placed on top. This will provide navigation limits for daytime small craft, reducing the risk of them straying over the submerged rock at high water.

Grants, Jobs, Funding and Research

Landscape Recovery funds long-term, large-scale, bespoke projects designed to enhance the natural environment and deliver significant environmental benefits. Applications for the second round are open until midday on Thursday 21 September. See: guidance and link to apply for the second round of Landscape Recovery. Defra have organised two webinars to provide potential applicants with more information see: Future Farming blog post.
A new European project, Strategies for the Evaluation and Assessment of Ocean based Carbon Dioxide Removal (SEAO2-CDR), has been launched to enhance understanding of the effects, benefits, and feasibility of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in the ocean. The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is the scientific and technical lead on the four-year interdisciplinary Horizon Europe (EU) funded project.
The Crown Estate is celebrating 10 years of the Marine Data Exchange. The MDE is a world-leading collection of marine industry survey data that is freely available to all.
The Crown Estate has commenced work to digitally map the seabed resource needed to meet future demand, enabling the delivery of multiple priorities including net zero and nature recovery, as well as the enhanced co-ordination of future activities out to 2050.

Ports, Harbours and Shipping

ABP’s Port of Southampton has officially named its two brand-new pilot vessels, Majestic and Mary Rose. The ceremony took place at the ABP Pilot Station at Endeavour Quay, Gosport.
Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour, on the Beaulieu River has been assessed and awarded with The Yacht Harbour Association’s ‘International Clean Marina’ accreditation, in recognition of its efforts to help protect the UK’s oceans and waterways.
Williams Shipping marked their new pilot boarding agreement with Portsmouth International Port by welcoming their pilot boats to the city. The new pilot boats are named Willserve and Willfreedom.

Recreation and Tourism

Hayling Islands Beachlands, Sandown and West Wittering beaches have all been awarded the Blue Flag and Seaside Award for 2023.
To celebrate the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, the England Coast Path has been renamed the ‘King Charles III England Coast Path’, leaving a legacy to be enjoyed by walkers around the English coastline.
Brambles Chine’s new wooden steps are now open, leading directly to this West Wight beach.

Water Quality

Read a blog from the Environment Agency on telling the difference between an algal bloom and sewage.
The bathing water season started on 15 May with regular testing of water quality from the Environment Agency now underway at designated bathing sites. Information on all 424 designated bathing water sites is published on Swimfo: Find a Bathing Water website.
A northeast water company is set to explore how the use of flying robots can help it improve the quality of the region’s rivers and coastal waters. Northumbrian Water will use drone technology to routinely sample and carry out at scale, in-situ, real-time water quality assessments.
The Rivers Trust will co-lead a new project working to remove barriers and develop new enabling mechanisms for the adoption of nature-based solutions at a catchment scale. The project is the recipient of a successful bid to the Ofwat Innovation Fund.
Southern Water’s first DWMP is now published and is available on its website: Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs) (southernwater.co.uk).
Preliminary results from the initial legs of the current edition of The Ocean Race show microplastics in each one of the 40 samples analysed so far, with as many as 1,884 microplastics per cubic metre of water in some locations.
Southern Water has begun £3m of work to reduce the use of storm overflows by increasing the capacity of West Wellow Wastewater Treatment Works near Romsey. Three new tanks will be installed at the site to boost the amount of wastewater the firm can treat and reduce the water overflowing into the river Blackwater.
Recreational drugs, pesticides and medicines have been found in seawater samples collected off the south coast of England. Researchers from Brunel and Portsmouth universities analysed nearly 300 samples from Langstone and Chichester harbours.

Consultations

The government is consulting on expanding the targets in the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to cover coastal and estuarine waters. Deadline is 24 July.