News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Loving Lundy online
Another angel shark sighting in west Wales
ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Loving Lundy online
A new website has been launched for the Lundy Marine Protected Area( MPA), featuring information about the species present in the UK’ s oldest MPA.
It started out in 1972 as a voluntary marine nature reserve, gaining statutory status as a National Marine Nature Reserve in 1986. Since then, the site has also become a Special Area of Conservation( SAC) and a Marine Conservation Zone( MCZ), with part of it also being designated as the UK’ s first No Take Zone.
The new website has information about what species are present within the MPA, such as its seaweeds( over 320 have been recorded within its boundaries); its marine
invertebrates( all five species of cup coral have been recorded here – the only such place in the UK); and its diversity of fish life. In addition, the island’ s resident grey seal population numbers over 200 individuals, and there are regular sightings of both common and bottlenose dolphins.
The No Take Zone off the island’ s east coast, now in its 22nd year, has been shown to have six times as many lobsters within it than outside of it( due to the banning of pot fishing within its boundaries), thereby helping to colonise nearby areas with‘ spillover’ individuals.
Besides many other shipwrecks, the MPA has two Protected Wrecks within its boundaries and one classified as a Scheduled Monument. The Protected
Wreck of the paddle steamer Iona II, which sank in 1864 just six months after she was built, is of particular historical interest. She was built as a state-of-the-art mail and cargo vessel to service remote communities in the Firth of Clyde and its nearby islands, yet ended up a wreck at Lundy while on her way to the east coast of America, possibly to become a Confederate gun-runner.
The website site also features a bibliography of over 300 reports, articles and scientific papers detailing various marine projects undertaken over the years. The bibliography is presented as an online searchable database, which should prove invaluable for researchers and interested individuals.
Explore Lundy’ s new website at lundympa. org. uk
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PHOTO: WILDLIFE TRUST OF SOUTH & WEST WALES
Another angel shark sighting in west Wales
A common angel shark has been filmed on a baited camera system off the coast of west Wales. An underwater camera deployed by researchers at The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales( WTSWW) caught the critically endangered angel shark on the seabed along Cardigan Bay. It is the first time the species has been seen on film in the area since 2021.“ We were thrilled to record an angel shark in Cardigan Bay, a rare and exciting encounter,”