A marine survey team, working as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s Seasearch programme, has followed the reef which runs for more than 20 miles, from Cley Next The Sea to Trimingham.
After its discovery of one section earlier this year, Seasearch’s East Anglia section obtained a grant from Norfolk County Council to continue its investigation.
The group has been led by diver Rob Spray who, with his partner Dawn Watson, made the initial find.
Work has been a combination of scuba dives and snorkels out from shore, to a maximum depth of about 8m.
The meandering reef includes gullies, boulder fields and, in one place, an impressive set of 2m-high arches.
Life includes many reef fish, anemones and sponges. Noted were three species not previously recorded in the area, the leopard spotted goby, blush-red strawberry anemone and Atlantic ancula sea slug.
The Norfolk reef is considerably longer than a 14-mile structure previously recorded as the country’s longest chalk reef, off Thanet in Kent.
Spray and his team have applied for the new discovery to be protected as a Marine Conservation Zone, under the Marine and Coastal Access Act.
The group plans to return in 2011 to survey the reef further.
Related links
Seasearch
Marine Conservation Society
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