ENVIRONMENT
A glimmer of hope for Sussex kelp beds, a 50km mono fin record attempt to fight plastic pollution and news of clean waters in Europe. Jo Tinsley reports on the things that matter to us as swimmers
HELP SUSSEX KELP BEDS RECOVER
Kelp forests provide some of the most biodiverse habitats in the world – greater even than rainforests. You’ll find kelp all around the UK coast; you can even swim amongst it in places like the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, and the Farne Islands, Northumberland. But sadly, in Sussex, trawling, storms and other stressors has caused the loss of 96% of kelp forests.
“Nature recovery takes time,” says Nikki Oliver, Project Support Officer at The Sussex Kelp Recovery Project. “Even when key pressures have been removed, the recovery of complex ecosystems can take years and even decades. Rewilding is a journey, a story of many chapters – and we are sitting comfortably!”
Among the factors that caused the kelp to disappear were the Great Storm of 1987 and intensive fishing activity using heavy trawl nets, which destroyed seabed habitats including kelp forests.