ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Lundy ’ s Big 50
Robert Irving , co-ordinator of this summer ’ s Lundy Festival , has an invitation for BSAC members
Lundy may well be one of those diving destinations that ’ s on your bucket list of sites you ’ d like to see before you go fins-up for the last time .
For two months this summer , we ’ ll be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the island ’ s Marine Protected Area . It ’ s a Protected Area because it ’ s recognised nationally as being of particular importance - not only for its amazing variety of marine life and its rare species , but also for its scenery and its historic shipwrecks . And we ’ re celebrating this milestone by holding a Marine Festival .
If you hadn ’ t heard of Lundy , it ’ s been at the forefront of marine conservation initiatives in British waters since the early 1970s . It was the country ’ s first voluntary marine nature reserve ; its first statutory reserve ( in 1986 ); the first to have a No Take Zone protected by fisheries bylaws ( in 2003 ); and the first Marine Conservation Zone to be designated ( in 2010 ).
The island lies in the outer Bristol Channel , 11 miles off the nearest bit of North Devon and about an hour ’ s passage by dive boat from Ilfracombe , where most of the dive charter operators are based . Its position
away from the mainland means it is remote from the worst of coastal turbidity , and its north-south orientation means that you can usually find shelter somewhere around the island , no matter the wind direction . The main snag is ensuring the timing of your visit to a chosen dive site coincides with slack water - but if it doesn ’ t , there are still enjoyable drift dives to get you moving .
The Marine Festival will run from 14th July until 11th September . There will be a whole host of participatory activities you can get involved with on top of the island and around its fringes , and we ’ ve booked more than 20 dive boat days for divers to undertake some ‘ citizen science ’ projects , no matter what your ID expertise is like .
These include :
■ Searching for spiny lobsters
■ Taking viewpoint photos on the protected wreck of the Iona II ( a paddle steamer which sank in 1864 )
■ Collecting and measuring scallops in the no take zone
■ Searches for red band fish burrows and burrowing anemones
■ Assessing the health of pink sea fans
■ Checking the maximum depths at which seaweeds are found .
For those who enjoy being an underwater twitcher , we ’ re also carrying out a full bioblitz of the island ’ s waters too , recording as many of the MPA ’ s species as possible . The data collected during these projects will all go towards assisting with the future management of the MPA .
Please visit the Marine Festival ’ s website and book yourself onto one of the festival ’ s dive boats . Then you ’ ll be able to take another must-see site off your bucket list . lundymarinefestival . org . uk
48