​Endangered Seahorses Return To British Bay During Lockdown

Endangered seahorses have begun to reappear in the waters of a popular British beach, thanks to 'a lack of boats, anchors, noise and people', The Seahorse Trust has said.

In a statement released on Facebook, the organisation revealed that the new conditions have allowed the endangered Spiny Seahorse to re-colonise at Studland Bay in Dorset.

They were discovered recently during the trust's regular survey dives - on one finding 16 seahorses (including pregnant males and even a juvenile that had been born this year), marking the largest number found in a single dive on the site since The Seahorse Trust started monitoring the area in 2008.

Flickr/Herry Lawford

"Covid 19 and the lockdown has kept people and, importantly boats off the site during 2020, and so nature has moved back, free to move around and breed; undisturbed by loud, intense noise and anchors digging up their habitat," The Seahorse Trust said.

"Despite not seeing seahorses for over 2 years; 2 weeks ago, the seahorses were discovered and on subsequent dives, despite only 1 metre of visibility, they found more."

Neil Garrick-Maidment FBNA, founder and Executive Director of the Seahorse Trust, added: "The ecology of the site has made a remarkable recovery.

"We have seen so many seahorses because the food chain has recovered, giving seahorses plenty of food to eat, and crucially, somewhere to hide. The seagrass has started to repair itself, and the Spiny Seahorses have taken advantage of this."

Both native seahorse species - the Spiny and Short Snouted - are protected after Garrick-Maidment spent 6 years gathering data and submitting it to the authorities.

Flickr/jidanchaomian

Now the question is how things can move forward, with Garrick-Maidment saying: "We do not want boats and divers banned, but the seahorses and the seagrass need their legal protection enforced.

"This is an amazing discovery, but we now need MMO and Natural England to enforce the WCA and the MCZ and put in measures such as Environmentally friendly moorings. The seahorses need protection to stop them being illegally disturbed again and to stop them from vanishing from the legally protected site."

The Seahorse Trust also reminded people that it is illegal to look for seahorses without a license from MMO, especially in a Marine Conservation Zone - which Studland Bay is.

"The seahorses are protected and so is Studland Bay and so please respect this and the law," the Trust said.

"It is incredible news that seahorses have returned to the site and it is because there have been no people and no boats, and the last thing we want is for them to be disturbed and go again."

Topics: UK News, News, Animals

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman