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The partnership’s long-term aim is to protect and restore the Solent’s seascape, tipping the balance from a degraded state to a naturally expanding, connected and productive ecosystem.

 

The Solent Seascape Project area stretches across more than 52,000 hectares of coastal and marine habitats in the Solent, one of the most heavily used waterways in Europe. Its complex network of harbours, islands, estuaries and sandbanks are a haven for an astounding array of wildlife across a diverse range of habitats. However, these face many severe threats, such as overuse, erosion, poor water quality and sea level rise, with many habitats, and the species they support, either lost or in decline.

To stop and reverse this, we are working to re-create a wildlife-rich network of interconnected marine and coastal habitats – known as a seascape-scale approach to marine and coastal restoration.
We are restoring seagrass, oyster reefs, saltmarsh and seabird nesting habitats across the Solent’s seascape to improve ecological connectivity, whilst working collaboratively with local communities to foster a deeper understanding of seascape processes, encourage behavioural change, and increase involvement in the recovery of their seascape.

In addition, we are also working with landowners, industry and regulatory bodies to improve the protection and management of existing habitats by co-developing an ambitious Seascape Recovery Plan for the Solent. By restoring the Solent ecosystem, we hope this will reduce the impacts of climate change, provide vital nursery grounds for commercially important fish, protect coastal homes from erosion and sea level rise, help to enhance water quality and improve social wellbeing by providing areas for local people and tourists to explore their natural environment.

The collaborative project involves 10 key partners, led by Blue Marine Foundation. We are using nature-based solutions to help fight the impacts of climate change at the strait between the south coast of England and the Isle of Wight.