CORNWALL
Seasearch Projects - Pink sea fan projectCornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) is surveying the pink sea fan, Eunicella verrucosa coral off the Cornish coast. Existing records of pink sea fans around Cornwall, most of which have been collected by Seasearch divers, show that they are widely distributed around the county however they are considered uncommon for the rest of the UK.
The aim of the project is to improve our understanding of this species; to find out where dense populations exist and to identify any threats to the conservation of these unique animals. Previous survey work has recorded the pink sea fan on at least 21 sites around Cornwall. New (previously unrecorded) sites have already been recorded at Newland off Port Quin; Bawden Rock off St Agnes; and Gwineas Reef off Gorran Haven. We are now concentrating on extending our knowledge of the range of the pink seafan by exploring previously un-surveyed sites. The results will be used to influence future conservation and management of pink sea fan populations around Cornwall.
We will also be recording associated species that live on the sea fans such as the sea fan anemone and the sea fan nudibranch. Both these species once thought to be quite common, now seem to be becoming extremely rare. We have seen the anemone at Land's End, The Manacles and off Plymouth, but nowhere else. Even at these sites less than 1% of sea fans have anemones on them! Our results also show that the sea fan nudibranch seems to be in decline in Cornish waters since the start of this project. Pink sea fans live on hard surfaces such as rocky reefs or wrecks and have been recorded down to depths of 60m. They can occur in ones and twos, or sometimes in vast ‘undersea forests’. Pink sea fans are extremely slow growing animals, growing at a rate of about 1cm per year, which means that some of the largest sea fans are over 50 years old. It is known that these corals are sensitive to physical disturbance, but to what extent is not clear. Factors that could be damaging the fans around Cornwall include fishing gear, entanglement in marine litter, fin strike by scuba divers and disease. The pink sea fan is a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species and one of the few marine species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Targets have been set by Government to maintain current populations, halt further decline, and to increase our knowledge of pink sea fan ecology and threats to the species’ survival. The project, which has received funding from SITA Trust, will provide much needed information to enable these targets to be achieved. SITA Trust’s Enriching Nature programme is providing £13.5m for wildlife projects across the country and is helping to reverse the decline of some of England’s most threatened species and habitats. For more information visit www.sitatrust.org.uk/nature How can you get involved?
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Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Five Acres, Allet, Truro, Cornwall, TR4 9DJ
Tel: (01872) 273939 Fax: (01872) 225476
Registered Charity Number - 214929
Web site design by Jayne Herbert, Penzance, Cornwall