Microcosm of Man’s Inhumanity
It’s such a tiny part of the planet. Hardly worth bothering about?
Worth bothering about. Because this is just another example of man’s barbaric behaviour towards the defenceless. Another example of abject disregard for anything that stands in his path. And therefore, this is a story that needs to be told.
Lyme Bay sits on the southern coast of England. It’s a beautiful part of the world – an inherent part of the Jurassic Coast.
Oh, how the English are so proud of this part of their coastline. So proud that they’ve made it a World Heritage Site and we all got nice and happy when Prince Charles got in on the act.
But beneath the waves, destruction is commonplace. What we can’t see never seems to matter.
(Much like CO2. If only it were acrid and fluorescent orange, we’d soon sit up and smell the roses.
If we could smell them, hidden behind the stench of progress.)
Lyme Bay is biodiverse, a microcosm of the planet. It supports delicate reefs – reefs that are home to biological communities of national importance, including the protected pink sea fan and the nationally rare sunset cup coral.
Each autumn the scalloping season begins. Don’t picture here some delicate practice that gently removes scallops from the seabed. Far from it.
No. Iron units dragged along the seabed destroy all in their path. Conservationists describe this as akin to picking wild mushrooms in an ancient woodland with a bulldozer.
A typical trawl consists of six of these iron units dragged along the seabed – each unit so heavy that it takes three strong men to lift. The steel teeth that are used for the actual scalloping make no allowance. They pull up absolutely everything in their path, leaving only rubble and sandy sludge and before long, nothing can survive.
I’d liken it to underwater ploughing; the difference of course being that absolutely nothing will grow in its place. Cultivation doesn’t come into it, only loss of life. Not the most cultivated of behaviour really.
By all means, ignore the reefs at this stage. The scallop fishermen do. Pink sea fan? Gone. Sunset cup coral? Gone. A caring nature? Gone.
The Devon Wildlife Trust has drawn up a petition that will be presented to my government on the 21st December. All they ask is that a mere 10% of the bay be left alone. Just left alone to be what it wants to be.
Just 10%. That’s all that’s being asked.
I want my government to care about this planet. I have as much right as a human being as they do to enjoy this rich and diverse island nation – this very planet as a whole.
0.001% of the British coastal waters are currently protected under government legislation. This is surely unforgivable. As an island nation, I’d argue that these waters are as integral to our national identity as the landscapes above water.
Something needs to be done. They say nature is harsh. Well, if we could just give nature the space it needs, we might just find out. Because at the moment, we behave far more harshly.
Sources:
The pictures were kindly supplied to me by The Devon Wildlife Trust. Copyright belongs to Mike Markey.
Wow! I didnt realise any of this. How utterly criminal. I agree totally with your views, we have a beautiful island and all the waters around it. How hypocritical of the Govt to proclaim conservation, while allowing this atrocity to go on. I sincerely hope the Devon Wildlife Trust are successful with the petition.
Thanks Gill. The more I research this one, the more it seems wrong.
The Devon Wildlife Trust’s site provides more background info. and even the local economy would improve, were the scallop dredging made illegal.
Perverse human behaviour.