Five years after bottom trawling was banned along the Sussex coast, thanks to the Sussex IFCA’s Nearshore Trawling Byelaw, a quiet but powerful transformation is unfolding beneath the waves.
Early ecological signs of hope are emerging - subtle but significant shifts that hint at what could one day return. Vast beds of mussels, some stretching more than a kilometre, are now forming sturdy, living foundations across sections of the coast.
“These first shifts matter,” says Dr Ray Ward, Reader in Marine Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. “I’ve seen mussel beds covering huge areas - and it’s these structures that young kelp spores will attach onto.”
“The natural recovery of our seabed, and the associated benefits for marine life and communities, will take time. Rewilding is a long journey - it doesn’t happen overnight, but it is one we hope to see the large-scale, natural recovery of a robust and resilient marine ecosystem. Seeing increases in a commercially important species like the Black Sea Bream through our underwater video surveys is a promising start.”
Local fishers are noticing changes too. “I’ve seen steady increases in Bream stocks and more widely distributed shoals,” says Mills. “And more Bass - both juvenile and large. Marine life appears to be on an upturn.”
Protection is the foundation but not the finish line.
Other damaging activities act as barriers to long-term recovery. SKRP’s science program not only monitors the life that is returning, but is investigating these hidden threats, so marine life can flourish for generations.
‘There are a range of pressures that we've got here in our UK marine environment, including here in Sussex. And that's things such as pollution, increased sediment levels, and overfishing, as well as the impacts of climate change and the associated marine heat waves.’ says Dr Ward.
Five years in, nature is only at the start of this long journey to rewild the seabed, but the ripples of recovery are slowly gathering momentum. With time, those ripples will grow into waves, revealing a revitalised seascape for future generations.