Sussex
The coast and seas of Sussex are home to an incredible array of underwater landscapes and marine life. Through various projects, we're working to protect and recover these vital ecosystems.
Help Our Kelp
The Sussex coast was once home to a vast kelp forest that supported a huge array of marine life and sustainable local employment. Kelp forests are one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet. Unfortunately, due to human impacts, there isn't much left. We worked alongside Sussex Wildlife Trust, Blue Marine Foundation and Big Wave Productions to support the Sussex IFCA byelaw that protects kelp in Sussex.
We're thrilled that Sir David Attenborough lent his support to the Help Our Kelp campaign and narrated a film about the plight of kelp in Sussex.
The Help Our Kelp project worked to support the success of the Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority Nearshore Trawling byelaw and the restoration of kelp to Sussex seas. Now called Sussex Kelp Recovery Project, we're continuing to help the kelps of Sussex in lots of ways, including our national coordination of Seasearch and our Agents of Change programme, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
Wild Coast Sussex
A Community Voice Method interview on the beach
Credit: Amdeep Sanghera
Wild Coast Sussex was a partnership project, led by Sussex Wildlife Trust, targeting communities all along the Sussex coast, with extra focus at Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing and Selsey. We partnered with Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) and Brighton Sealife to deliver this project.
Credit: Marine Conservation Society
If you are 16-25 years old and interested to know more about how you can get involved, please get in touch! For our Youth Ocean Network and any other volunteering opportunities, contact info@mcsuk.org.
Wild Coast Sussex was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to money raised by National Lottery players and co-funded by the European Union.
Beachy Head East Marine Conservation Zone
A view of Beachy Head East MCZ from Hastings Pier
Credit: Georgie Scott
From 2017 to 2019, working alongside the local community, including fishers, Agents of Change launched a local campaign: Backing Beachy Head East. We connected supportive local people to local decision makers, including MPs, Defra and Sussex IFCA.
Happily, it was announced in May 2019 that Beachy Head East MCZ was a designated site - a real triumph for locals including local fishers who had championed the extra protections for the area since 2009.
From 2020 to 2023, the Agents of Change project worked to support positive conversation around management of the site in a way that actively includes the participation of people across the local community. In 2023, we organised and delivered a series of community workshops with Sussex IFCA in Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings to support their decision making for fisheries management in the MCZ. For more information, visit our Community Voice Method page.
Kingmere Marine Conservation Zone
In 2017, the Agents of Change project started working with the local community at Kingmere Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ). Kingmere MCZ, designated in 2013, was the first conservation area to manage recreational angling in the UK. As such, many other Marine Conservation Zones around the UK view it as a blueprint for similar management measures.
At Kingmere MCZ, there is also aggregate extraction occurring legally within the site. This dichotomy of management systems is especially felt by local community members who know of the existence of the MCZ, the presence of aggregate extraction and the management on recreational angling.
Agents of Change worked to increase community interest in their local MCZ by raising awareness of its presence in local towns, by producing printed information along the seafront and information online for locals and visitors about the site.
