(08/09/2011)
Staff from Weymouth Sea Life Park will be pulling on their welly boots on Friday to go in search of marine life at Newton’s Cove.
They plan to spend two-and-a-half hours logging every bit of plant and animal life they find in the intertidal area and rockpools…in a bid to win protection for the fragile shoreline and shallow water habitats along the Dorset coastline.
The event has been organised in conjunction with Dorset Wildlife Trust, whose three-year investigation of what they have termed the ‘Welly Zone’ is a response to conservation measures which currently omit this precious habitat.
A new Special Area of Conservation has been proposed for the reef habitats between Studland and Portland, and as this and other marine habitats gain protected status Dorset Wildlife Trust is concerned that the shallows and intertidal zone may miss out.
“Our mission is to gather evidence of the wealth of marine life that depends on the intertidal zone, to protect it from future development,” said Sea Life marine expert Chris Brown.
“We’re expecting to find mermaid’s purses, crabs, anemones and skeletons of pink sea fans which will prove that these animals are living in the shallows.”
At least 10 volunteers from Weymouth Sea Life Park will be among a host of volunteers combing the beach at Newton’s Cove at low water on Friday 19th August…between 2.30 and 5pm.