2021/09/11 Horse Island Maerl bed Summer Isles
In 2021 the community wanted to know what was the northerly point of the maerl bed habitat at Horse Island. Professor Jason Hall-Spencer, Dr Graham Saunders and Chris Rickard went in search of the northerly limit. In 2018 our survey had shown an extensive and healthy mearl bed. The divers wanted to assess the maerl bed’s condition now given there was a proposal for a fish farm just north of the bed. There was some discussion between the scientists about how to define where a maerl bed begins and ends - when there is an extensive area of scattered maerl leading to thick maerl. The fascinating discovery was that the maerl was now colonised by flame shell nests. This had not been noted on the previous 2018 surveys. During this visit Jason gave a fascinating talk on maerl at the Seaweed Festival hosted by the Blue Hope Alliance. The dive trip was supported by Tanera.
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