Glimmers of hope for recovery of Sussex sea forests

The Sussex Kelp Recovery Project (SKRP), the UK’s largest marine rewilding project, celebrates three years of seabed protection in Sussex today on the International Day of Biological Diversity.

To celebrate, SKRP partners have published their annual report highlighting research and projects aimed at bringing back our lost Sussex sea forests. It is hoped that, in time, marine habitats off the coast of Sussex may once again be able to support a diverse range of marine life, bringing huge benefits for nature, fisheries and coastal communities.

In Sussex, an extensive kelp forest - a group of large brown seaweeds that grow together to form magnificent underwater forests - once stretched along more than 40km of the coastline between Shoreham-by-Sea and Selsey Bill. Tragically, by the start of the 21st Century, over 96 percent of this kelp had disappeared. Despite having survived huge storms for centuries, the kelp didn’t return after the storm of 1987, due to the increase in trawling in the area which completely transformed the seabed, preventing the return of the once abundant kelp forests.