Sussex Underwater: Incredible discoveries continue out at sea with ambitions for trawler ban to be extended nationwide

The Sussex Nearshore Trawling Byelaw (March 2021) means the nearshore seabed off the Sussex coast is now protected from bottom-towed trawling gears after successful campaigning from the Help Our Kelp partnership, supported by Sir David Attenborough.

It followed a successful campaign by Eric Smith, 76 – who has been diving in Sussex waters since the age of 11.

Eric appeared with his daughter, Catrine Priestley, in a BBC documentary last year. The father and daughter team are now hoping to extend the trawling ban nationwide – and have been to a Labour conference recently to ‘talk about Sussex and showcase what is going on here to influence the government’.

Catrine explained: “We started Sussex Underwater in 2021. Dad has been diving since 11-years-old and has witnessed trawlers destroying the seabed and the devastation of kelp forests.

"We were really excited when we got the trawler ban in 2021. It was the biggest marine rewilding project in the whole of the UK.

"We are pioneers and people are looking to us to see if the recovery is happening so it’s really exciting.”

Eric added: “I could see real devastation happening so I wrote an article which went viral at the time. It was a real trigger.

"We eventually got a trawler ban in 2021 and we would like it to happen across the country now.”

Catrine said ‘everyone knows about the lost kelp forest now’.

She added: “We are seeing the kelp at Bognor rocks looking healthier. It looks healthier each year and it’s spreading from there.

"We found a few pockets off Hove last year. We are not seeing it coming back in massive amounts yet but it takes time.

"The eco system needs to build from the bottom up. The mussel beds need to grow back first and then the kelp will grow within those mussel beds.

"Our ultimate aim is to try to get trawlers banned across the UK. We have three teams in Bognor, Shoreham and Hastings. Ten of us in the organisation and we are doing talks all the time.”

Following the 2021 ruling to protect the large area of seabed, Eric said he has noticed a return of marine life such as stingrays, angel sharks and seahorses.

He told the BBC: "Just give nature a bit of space and it will come back."

This is continuing to have a positive impact in 2024.

“All these creatures are coming back to the water and people are in awe,” Catrine said.

"The eco system is building back from the bottom up. The smaller fish and bigger mammals are coming to feed on them.”

Among the incredible discoveries made in recent weeks were two nurse hounds, caught off Worthing beach.

The nurse hound (scyliorhinus stellaris) – also known as the large-spotted dogfish, greater spotted dogfish or bull huss – is a species of catshark.

“The good news stories keep on coming,” Eric wrote on the popular Facebook group.

"They are both big adults and in superb condition, released alive after a gentle hint from the grandchildren.

"I have been diving in the Sussex bay for 65 years and have never seen one in the shallower waters.

"Thanks to Worthing fishermen Paul Marchant and others for thinking of the next generation by putting back the rare fish to try and bring back once common native fish to our bay.”

Eric said another discovery that ‘really stood out in the last year’ was the angel shark spotted off Brighton, in 2023, for 'first time in 60 years'.

He explained: “They are about 6ft long and they used to be everywhere in the 1960s. By the end of the 60s, they had all gone. I hadn’t seen one in so long.

"The bull huss are rare in shallow waters – I had never seen one. Two were caught in the same day so they are getting through now.”

Bluefin tuna, which used to be very rare’, is also ‘back in our waters’, Catrine said.

Eric said: “The trawlers were killing everything off. The year they stopped, they [the rare creatures] started to return and are still coming back up.”

Sussex Underwater, which started off as a Facebook page, is now on multiple social media platforms and could soon become a registered charity.

Catrine said: “It’s been an amazing journey – 20,000 followers and such positive engagement.

“A BBC documentary was made about a year ago – that was brilliant. It went to millions of people and it was really well received.

"It’s snowballed from there. We started Sussex Underwater because it was out of sight and out of mind for so long. We needed it to be in the public eye.

"There are beautiful sea creatures in Sussex and they do deserve our respect and to be helped.”

Eric and Catrine now share incredible films of the recovery they are starting to see in Sussex bay. They give local talks and work closely with marine conservation organisations.

Their aim is to ‘make everyone fall in love with the local marine ecosystem’ and ‘push for trawler bans like this all over the UK’.

Their next events will be held at St Mary de Haura church in East Street, Shoreham-by-Sea, on Saturday, October 19 at 2pm. They will then host a talk at the Shoreham Centre on Friday, November 8 at 7pm.