Project Overview
- Produce a mooring plan for Studland Bay by bringing stakeholders to gain agreement on location, timescale and proposed options for long-term funding.
- Create a draft management strategy and vision for the next 10 years that all users of Studland Bay can believe in and work towards, to incorporate:
Project Overview
The sheltered conditions of the bay not only provide protection for sensitive habitats and species but is highly valued by boat and water users, and local businesses as an attractive environment for tourism and recreation. Also, importantly providing a sheltered refuge for both local boat users and those travelling long distances.
Locally most people recognise that conserving the seagrass habitat is essential, but it will be difficult to implement a Voluntary No Anchoring Zone (VNAZ) if there are no alternatives for boat users to use the bay. The Studland Bay Marine Partnership are working together to achieve these key outcomes:
c. potential seagrass restoration projects.
Studland Bay Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ)
#ProtectOurBeds
Studland Bay has become the first UK contributor to a global campaign, #ProtectOurBeds, supporting efforts to protect seagrass by providing eco-mooring data, as alternatives to anchoring.
#ProtectOurBeds is a new campaign between not-for-profit, Clean Sailors, the Ocean Conservation Trust and all-in-one navigation app, savvy navvy, supporting boaters to combat climate change by digitally mapping sensitive seabeds and eco-moorings across boating hotspots around the world.
The aim of ‘#ProtectOurBeds´ is to help stop vital seagrass being destroyed. By bringing greater awareness to water-users on where sensitive seabeds lie and encouraging them to use eco-moorings where available, the campaign aims to educate, inspire and encourage the boating community to make more informed anchoring choices when out on the water. As the first UK contributor, the Studland Bay Marine Partnership has provided the campaign with geo-location data of its 87 eco-mooring facilities in Studland Bay.
Seagrasses combat climate change by absorbing and storing huge amounts of carbon, but are estimated to be the fastest disappearing habitat on the planet mainly due to avoidable human activity.