A researcher has shared mesmerising clips of the thriving biodiversity of underwater life off the Sussex coast in south England.
Raymond Ward, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London, spent four hours underwater recording the animals he found along a 3.5 kilometre stretch of seabed in Sussex. Trawling was banned here in 2021 and Ward has seen a noticeable recovery of marine life since.
“This dive highlights what can happen if you let nature heal,” says his video caption.
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The footage shows a huge variety of species including cuttlefish, spider crabs, lobster, squat lobster, small spotted catsharks, several species of ray, and more.
"There are juveniles of multiple species including commercially important species that breed here,” the video caption says. That’s down to the suitable habitat created by brown, green and red algae as well as mussels, sponges, worms and anemones.
“These are all easily destroyed by trawling and due to the suspended sediment caused by trawling, recovery can be slow and negligible leading to a wide-ranging loss in diversity and productivity.”
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