Masters Student Studies Marine Life in Falmouth Harbour

The waters beneath Falmouth Harbour have been brought into the spotlight thanks to a Masters research project that has captured fascinating footage of the creatures living below the surface.

Marine life including a nursehound shark, conger eel, crabs, and shoals of fish have all been spotted on camera in the study led by Natasha Bamford, an MSc Marine Conservation student at the University of Plymouth.

Underwater cameras in action

With support from the Falmouth Harbour team, Natasha deployed Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems units (BRUVS). These use cameras to film species attracted to bait-filled canisters.

Two BRUVS were set up in different areas of the harbour: one off Trefusis Head and the other beside the intertidal reef cubes and habitiles installed below the harbour wall at Church Street Car Park. The aim is to compare a natural rocky reef with an artificial one, to see how species differ between the two.

Falmouth Harbour Environment Manager Vicki Spooner said:

“I am always fascinated by the incredible creatures living beneath the surface of our seas – so these past few weeks have been particularly exciting.
We’ve been working with Natasha and her colleagues to deploy two BRUVS systems in different areas of the harbour: one off Trefusis Head and the other beside the intertidal reef cubes and habitiles we’ve installed below the harbour wall at Church Street Car Park – with a project aim to compare a natural rocky reef with an artificial one, to see if there’s a difference in the mobile species present.”

Support for conservation

Falmouth Harbour credited Our Only World for helping to fund the artificial reef structures and also for providing extra support for Natasha’s project.

Tina Robinson from Our Only World said:

“It’s always a privilege to be involved with the Falmouth Harbour team and be a part of their amazing conservation work. We extend our sincere thanks to Natasha for her valued hard work and collaboration and also to Sea-Changers who provided the grant. We are looking forward to the results.”

30 hours of footage reviewed

So far, Natasha has gathered around 30 hours of footage revealing a wide variety of marine life. The cameras captured five types of crabs (spider, shore, velvet swimmer, edible and hermit crab), snakelocks anemones, bass, wrasse, shanny, poor cod and even an entire shoal of more than 100 sand smelts.

Natasha said:

“Artificial reefs like Falmouth’s are created around the world to restore habitats and increase biodiversity, but despite their popularity there’s limited evidence to show how they actually work.
I’m trying to find out whether these artificial reefs (in Falmouth’s case the habitiles and reef cubes around the harbour walls of Church Street Car Park) – support the same variety of species as the natural rocky reefs nearby.
As I go through the footage it’s so exciting to see what’s down there – in one case an entire shoal of more than 100 sand smelts – and I have to count every one!
I couldn’t have done the project without the incredible help of the Falmouth Harbour team and it’s wonderful for us all to see species interacting within the artificial reef.”

What’s next

The next stage of the study involves comparing the species recorded at each reef site. Natasha will then use the results for her Masters dissertation.

She is also hopeful that similar surveys can be repeated yearly and in different locations, to track the health of artificial reefs and understand how well they are working across the UK.

Falmouth Harbour plans to share some of Natasha’s underwater videos and images from the project. More details can be found at Falmouth Harbour and on the University of Plymouth’s Marine Conservation Research Group.