Innovation, research and a mammoth volunteering effort helped conservationists learn more about wildlife in UK seas, reveals The Wildlife Trusts’ 2024 marine review [view here], published today.

Seaside volunteers clocked over 46,000 thousand hours surveying shorelines and recording wildlife. In Devon, this amazing contribution amounted to more than 700 hours. 

Discoveries reported in the annual round-up include climate-indicator sea slugs and seaweeds, plus sightings of conger eels and humpback whales. 

The Wildlife Trusts – and 80% of the British public – want to see bottom trawling banned in protected areas, and measures to ensure that offshore developments are nature positive. The charities say that strengthening protection of the UK’s blue carbon can help to achieve climate and biodiversity goals.

Coral Smith is Devon Wildlife Trust’s Marine Awareness Officer. Based at the charity’s popular Wembury Marine Centre, near Plymouth, Coral said:

"It has been another fantastic year for marine wildlife sightings in Devon. Out to sea we’ve had dolphins and whales and spectacular displays from Bluefin tuna, as they continue their comeback in local waters. Closer to shore it’s been a good year for Cuttlefish, Spider crabs and all kinds of weird and wonderful invertebrates including Devon’s first record of a Rainbow sea slug, Babakina anadonis. The appearance of this beautiful nudibranch is, however, a warning that our waters are warming! 

It’s also been a tough year for marine wildlife in many ways. We’ve seen high numbers of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) recorded along both the north and south coastlines of Devon during the surveys conducted by our volunteers. Our volunteer Shoresearch team also continue to find disturbing quantities of ocean plastics, bycatch [dead dolphins, seals, whales and sharks accidentally caught in fishing nets] and ‘ghost’ [abandoned] fishing gear. Add to this are the continued and well-publicised water quality concerns affecting many of our estuaries and bathing waters.  

What is certain though, is that we wouldn’t know any of this information without our dedicated network of marine volunteers: passionate people, who devoted more than 700 hours of their time surveying, monitoring and engaging others with our incredible marine environment. A huge thanks must go them."

Ruth Williams, head of marine conservation at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

"People are central to nature recovery and made huge contributions to our knowledge of UK seas this year. Wildlife surveys and monitoring have led to incredible discoveries, including new species on UK shores. Success stories demonstrate the enormous value of marine conservation and why robust protection is critical for nature recovery.

As the first country to map all its blue carbon habitats, the UK has a unique position to champion better protection for seabed habitats. They are the unsung heroes in our fight against climate change. We need policies that stop damaging activities in protected areas, plus continued support for innovation, monitoring and work to improve coastal habitats."

Discoveries of climate change indicators and non-native species were made through The Wildlife Trusts’ national intertidal survey programme, Shoresearch, and volunteering days. Highlights from the South West’s waters include:

• First records of a rainbow sea slug in Devon.
• First records of the non-native kelp seaweed, wakame at Wembury, Devon.
• Pom-pom weed – a seaweed native to Asia that forms red tangled ‘pompoms’ – was found across Devon. It could displace macro-invertebrates, like barnacles.
• Hundreds of mauve jellyfish washed up in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly. They are normally found in warmers waters such as the Mediterrranean.
• Very dense aggregation of invasive pacific oyster at Hope Cove in Devon. They can alter ecosystems through reef formation and displacing native oysters.

Successful research projects helped conservationists learn more about UK marine habitats and wildlife. The Wildlife Trusts were one of the charities behind The Blue Carbon Mapping Project, which saw the UK become the first country to estimate the carbon stored in its seabed habitats. The report reinforced calls to ban bottom-trawling in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), as 43% of the UK’s blue carbon is in these zones.

Monitoring of marine habitats demonstrate how wildlife can recover when areas are properly protected. Highlights include:

• A spiny lobster was found in Wembury Bay, Devon, for the first time in living memory. They are returning following excessive fishing in the 60s and 70s.
• St Piran’s hermit crabs were recorded in great numbers on the south coast. They were wiped out by the Torrey Canyon Spill of 1967.
• Giant mussel beds, greater diversity of fish and increased numbers of lobster were reported in Sussex – three years after a byelaw was passed to protect 300km² of seabed from trawling. A tope shark and European eel were also found among 81 different marine species recorded.

New conservation projects include large-scale initiatives in Cornwall and Essex to link conservation efforts on land with protecting important marine and coastal habitats. Other conservation highlights include:

• Volunteers measured a snakelocks anemone and coral weed bed the size of 5 Olympic swimming pools in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset – maybe unique in UK seas.
• Volunteers gathered by hand over 3,000kg of rubbish from beaches – the weight of three baby humpback whales – in clean-ups organised by Wildlife Trusts.
• Alderney’s northern gannets – 1% of the global population – became one of the first in the world to be surveyed with drones and Artificial Intelligence.

The Wildlife Trusts’ marine review 2024 can be read here.

People wishing to volunteer to help Devon Wildlife Trust in its work for the marine environment can visit https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/wilder-seas or email marine@devonwildlifetrust.org”