 web_0.jpg "Sponges and anemones (Credit Paul Hymers)")
Sponges and anemones (Credit Paul Hymers)
Deeply incised chalk reefs support colourful sponges and anemones, while ross worm reefs mixed with mussel beds provide valuable habitat for a diversity of small crustaceans and molluscs.
Running between Kingsdown, Deal, to the north and Dover to the south is an important stretch of rich chalk reef, lying below the famous white cliffs of Dover.
The naturally eroding chalk cliffs give rise to boulder-strewn shores, and shaded habitat for unusual assemblages of colourful sponges and sea squirts.
The chalk platform extends across the shore and out to sea, with deep sand-filled gullies between tall ridges of chalk covered in seaweeds, sponges and anemones. Large crabs and lobsters find shelter within the chalk in recesses, while baby cuttlefish swim around the outcrops, demonstrating their amazing camouflage.
Farther offshore, the chalk gradually becomes covered in coarse sediments. Here, thousands of sandy tubes made by tiny ross worms form significant reefs which can harbour a wonderful diversity of wildlife and support the whole food web.
This recommended Marine Conservation Zone is ON HOLD at the moment as Defra has indicated that there is not enough evidence to support designation.
We need you to urge Defra to use the data gathered as soon as possible to consider designation of this site as an urgent and high priority:
Defra has indicated that additional evidence is needed before any of the habitats or species recommended by stakeholders can be put forward for designation by Defra.
This site is important- it has the best regional example of rossworm reefs, which occur on the shore and subtidally. The wave-cut chalk habitat is also considered to be the best in the region. This chalk habitat has also been identified as being at risk of damage and degradation by Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The area has been the subject of extensive survey in recent years, including a detailed intertidal survey by Kent Wildlife Trust, and multibeam sonar and backscatter data by Channel Coastal Observatory, ground-truthed with Kent WT’s Seasearch data to produce a detailed habitat map covering the whole rMCZ.
Kent Wildlife Trust has Seasearch data backed up by photographs and video footage as evidence of the presence of subtidal chalk and rossworm reef which can be viewed on this page. These surveys provide sufficient evidence for Natural England to now give seven of the features high confidence in their presence (six of these also with high confidence in extent).
Despite being submitted to Balanced Seas in 2011, these two important data sets had not been assimilated in time for the initial advice from Natural England to Defra, but they have been used in their amendments report of December 2012. Defra also commissioned additional survey work of this site in 2012- these results have not been taken into account in this consultation.
We need you to urge Defra to accept the revised assessment of evidence adequacy by Natural England, and to use the data collected in 2012 as soon as possible and to consider this site as a high and urgent priority for designation in the next tranche. The site should be protected from additional damage and degradation in the meantime.
Dive video of this site
Contains UKHO Law of the Sea data. Crown copyright and database right and contains Ordnance Survey Data Crown copyright and database 2012
Other nearby MCZs
Downloads
| Filename | File size |
|---|---|
| Dover to Deal.pdf | 191.8 KB |