ASAC Newsletter

June 2013

June started pretty much the same as The end of May with another weekend trip at Lundy. As the tides were unfavourable for a day trip we (Jane, Steph, Ben, David, Mark and myself) left on Saturday afternoon (1st June) in conditions that were a tad bouncy, and as the wind was in the north we had a dive in the nice gullies at the south end of the Island. It was a pick your depth dive with the comment of you never know what you might nd. What we did nd was some rather nice underwater scenery, species of blenny, prawns and the usual suspects of cup corals, spider crab, sponges and anemones all lit up by my new super bright led torch. Visibility was still limited due the plankton bloom, but conditions had improved somewhat since the last trip. An overnight trip meant another Saturday night enjoying the hospitality of the Marisco Tavern and enduring a slightly thick head the next morning, but nothing a hearty Tavern breakfast didn't cure! On the Sunday the wind had dropped, the sun shone, and the temperatures had risen - the rst real taste of summer and a bunch of happy campers wandered down to the jetty to get ready for a morning of diving.

The rst wave (Mark, David and myself) dived at the point at Brazen Ward hoping for some seal encounters and whilst there were a lot around, none came to play. The at calm sea and the bright, warm sunshine belied the sea conditions which were a

cool 10 degrees and about 3 metres vis! Still we had a nice dive, concentrating on the minutiae - cup corals, light bulb tunicates, nudibranch as well as pink sea fans. Motoring back to the Landing Bay we spotted a boat shooting a string a pots inside the No Take Zone (NTZ) and after a little discussion decided to contact the vessel. It turned out that

they were carrying out research on behalf of Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (IFCA). IFCA's have the responsibility to manage sheries in European Marine Sites (including The Lundy MCZ) and Defra have a duty under European Habitat Regulations to carry out an Appropriate Assessment of activities taking place in the MCZ. My understanding is that the Appropriate Assessment has to look at the activities taking place in the protected area and assess whether these are compatible with the protection of the special features of the MCZ. I guess the upshot will be the banning of activities that denitely affect the integrity of the site and management of other activities which, without control, would adversely impact on the site (such as scallop dredging). The control will be likely to be achieved by either using existing, or new, byelaws. As to how this will affect us - Well you'll recall the consultation on the proposed per person quota for recreational divers, this is coming from the work of IFCA. So, the potting inside the NTZ was nothing to be concerned about and I'm sure the results of this years survey will continue to provide good information on the positive impact the the NTZ is having. Incidentally, last year IFCA carried out a lobster tagging survey but as of

yet the results have not been analysed and I understand three more surveys are planned during 2013.

After this interlude Ben and Jane decided they would like to dive the Carmine Filomena and I understand that they enjoyed better visibility and had a thoroughly nice time.

We had a lovely, at, sunny trip back - perfect conditions to see dolphins, so of course we didn't see any!

Still it's always worth keeping your eyes open, you never know what you're going to see.

The following week (Sunday 9th) there was pretty much a full boat and some diving on the western side of the island including a dive at Battery Point in search of the remains the water was full of remnants of phytoplankton and also full of zoo plankton comprising of Sea Gooseberries, Comb Jellies and tiny Moon Jellysh.

The following two weekends (15th and 22nd) were blown out and I have no reports of any diving trips. Next weekend is the Lundy Splash-In so look out for a special edition of the newsletter.

25th June 2013