The University of Plymouth has been at the forefront of marine conservation research for more than 20 years. It is a quest that takes its staff all over the world, seeking ways to sustainably manage our seas.
Among these sites of scientific interest is the Chagos archipelago, a remote British Indian Ocean Territory that is set to play a central role in discovering more about how coral reefs are coping with climate change.
The isolated islands lie about 300 miles south of the Maldives, and are surrounded by a 64m-hectare marine protected area, which has helped to limit human impacts such as overfishing and pollution. This means they are largely untouched by human activity, says associate professor Kerry Howell, and so the only negative impacts on the coral, such as bleaching, have been caused by global warming.
Howell is co-leading a £1m research programme, funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation as part of the Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science, to identify what underlying mechanisms are keeping the region’s seas so healthy.
Deeper parts of the reef sit in much cooler water, she explains, and are washed by “internal waves”, which regularly flush them with cold water, and this makes the coral less prone to bleaching. The research aims to discover how this coral connects with parts of the reef in shallower, warmer waters, and the role it can play in helping to re-seed these more vulnerable areas.
“It will help us determine where we should focus our efforts and time to best conserve coral reefs, which are really at risk from climate change,” says Howell.
The Chagos project is the latest in a long line of marine conservation studies to involve the University of Plymouth. Arguably, no other university in the UK is pursuing research of such breadth, with the Marine Conservation research group – which includes biologists, oceanographers and policy experts – looking at everything from the way we manage our immediate coastlines to methods of protecting our deep seas.
Reefs are also the focus of the Deep Links project, which studies an area in the Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of Scotland, where some of the UK’s tallest underwater mountains are found. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc), and conducted in tandem with the British Geological Survey and the University of Oxford, the project aims to determine how these rich marine ecosystems are linked to each other. Howell believes it will be vital in helping governments around the world develop effective marine protected areas.
Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, Plymouth’s marine biologists are working with colleagues from the University of Cyprus on Relionmed, a project to stem a lionfish invasion. These venomous fish, which have been spreading into the Red Sea via the Suez Canal, pose a huge threat to biodiversity due to their predatory behaviour and rapid reproduction.
The project is looking at a number of different ways to limit the damage they cause, including the introduction of an early surveillance and detection system, and working with commercial and recreational fishermen to help control numbers.
The idea of involving people who “work the seas” in marine conservation is an important one, explains Prof Martin Attrill, associate head of the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the university. The university has developed a pioneering approach, he says, that brings together natural and social scientists, leading to projects that don’t just aim to protect the seas “but also improve the livelihoods of people who engage with them”.
It’s a way of thinking embodied by the flagship Lyme Bay project. Launched in 2008, it involves working with the fishing community to assess the marine protected area off the coast of Devon and Dorset. The project has led to the seabed being closed to bottom-towed fishing, explains Dr Adam Rees, a research officer with the university’s Marine Institute. “Bottom dredging is very destructive, but we have shown that if you close an area it can regenerate,” he says.
Fishermen have been encouraged to use more sustainable methods, such as shellfish pots, and there has also been an increase in diving for scallops, says Rees. The hand-picked shellfish come with an ethical stamp than can command high prices at restaurants committed to sustainable sourcing.
Jim Newton has been fishing the area for crabs and lobsters for more than 40 years, and is convinced the ban has helped bring life back to the bay. “The lobstering has been very good – I presume that’s because the seabed is more inviting for them,” he says.
But it is scallops that have made the most dramatic comeback. “They’re so abundant that they often turn up in the pots and nets we’ve laid, which is not something I’ve seen before,” adds Newton.
Thanks to a partnership with the Blue Marine Foundation, the project is now being run as a blueprint to support other UK coastal communities. The ultimate aim is to secure a sustainable income for fishermen, while enabling them to meet national and international conservation goals.
This idea of not only protecting our coastlines but breathing new life into them is epitomised by plans for the UK’s first marine park in Plymouth Sound, a campaign the university is heavily involved with. “The whole idea of a marine park isn’t to draw a fence round the sea and keep people out,” says Attrill, who is a long-term champion of the project. “It’s about getting people to engage with something that’s amazing and beautiful.”
Attrill talks about boat trips, snorkel safaris and using virtual reality to help bring the sea to life, perhaps even encouraging a new generation of marine conservationists in the process.
“When you start getting people more familiar with an environment they start valuing it and they cherish it, and they want to help protect it,” he adds.
Against a backdrop of world-leading research and engagement, that quest to inspire the future guardians of the sea is central.
In the past 12 months, the university has launched a partnership with the Ocean Giants Trust, giving students the opportunity to engage with organisations working to preserve species and environments all over the world.
And this September, it will launch a unique new MSc Marine Conservation programme, designed with partners such as the Marine Conservation Society and Defra. It is the only such programme where all students have the opportunity to gain direct experience working within these potential employers as part of their master’s projects.
“The focus on threats affecting the marine environment has never been greater,” Attrill adds. “But the need for enhanced education about what is causing those problems is just as important, and our programme provides that.”
