Seasearch report forms received from dives in 2007 reached 1259, a 9 per cent jump on 2006. This, said Seasearch, 'tops our all-time record of 1185 in 2005'. Though describing the latest figures as its tally for 2007, the organisation added that even more forms could be on the way as late returns.
Affiliated with the Marine Conservation Society, out of whose Gloucestershire offices it operates, Seasearch ran, during 2007, surveys in areas as diverse as the Sound of Mull, the Isles of Scilly, Lyme Bay and Alderney. Species recorded for research databases included seafans, flames shells, pipefish, anemone, seahorses and blennies.
With the blennies, for instance, it was established that more red or Portuguese blennies seem to be appearing in the Isles of Scilly, and that the black-faced blenny, common in the Channel Islands, seems to be 'creeping westwards along the south coast of England', the most westerly sighting being off Plymouth's Rame Head.
Survey results, and of course a rundown of projects in which divers can become involved this year, can be seen at www.seasearch.org.uk |
