KWT Seasearch

Kent Seasearch is run by Kent Wildlife Trust as part of the national Seasearch programme, which is designed for recreational divers to help protect marine wildlife by recording information about habitats and species on their dives. 

Kent Wildlife Trust organises an annual programme of training courses and Seasearch survey dives. The best way to get involved in the first place is to book on a Seasearch Observer course.

For more information, or to add your name to the Seasearch list, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Why

From starfish and seahorses to seals and soft corals, Kent’s seas are packed with life. Marine habitats provide us with food, help maintain our beaches, and protect our coast, but much of the seabed around our shores has never been surveyed. Kent Seasearch aims to find out more about the marine wildlife of Kent. The project aims to map out the various types of seabed found around Kent, and to identify important sites and species around our shores.

The information collected by Seasearch divers helps those responsible for marine activities and marine nature conservation to develop strategies which protect our marine wildlife.  All the data will help in the work to locate the new suite of Marine Conservation Zones under the new Marine and Coastal Access Act. 

Joining in

All you need to get involved with Kent Seasearch is:

• an interest in marine wildlife,
• diving qualification (BSAC Sports Diver, SAA Club Diver, PADI Rescue Diver or other equivalent)
• a minimum of 25 dives including 10 in UK seas, and including some in very low visibility
• minimum age of 18 years.

No specialist knowledge is required as training is provided

There are 3 levels of Seasearch training available:

Observer - 1 day introductory course
Surveyor - 2 day more advanced course with a dive
Special Interest – a range of courses, like fish ID

Seasearch events

A programme of training courses and dives is organised in Kent each year, beginning at the start of the main diving season in the spring.

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  to be added to the Kent Seasearch list to receive copies of the annual programme as soon as it becomes available.

On any dive

Any club can organise a Seasearch dive as part of the diving programme for the year, or you can simply take a few notes on any dive and complete a form afterwards - no matter where you are, a Seasearch record will always be valuable.

If your club organises a Seasearch dive, having attended a Seasearch course, we will try to organise for a Seasearch tutor to join the dive to provide guidance on filling out the forms, and enable you to use these as qualifying forms.

Life on the chalk

Chalk reefs form one of the special seabed habitats around Kent, and we have produced a set of two laminated cards to help divers identify some of the most commonly seen species on our local chalk reefs.  Please get in touch with  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  if you would like a free copy.   We are grateful to Natural England's Countdown 2010 project and the Crown Estate for funding the production of these cards, and for supporting Seasearch and Shoresearch surveys on the chalk around Dover.

Key species of interest

Please tell us if you see anything unusual on any of your dives, even if you are not involved with Seasearch.

Our leaflet describes a selection of key species which are locally important for one reason or another.  Some are rare in south east England, some have been introduced from other parts of the world and are becoming invasive, while others are native to Britain but spreading because of warming sea temperatures.

The species are native oyster (Ostrea edulis); Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas); honeycomb or ross worm formations (Sabellaria sp.); seagrass (Zostera); greater pipefish (Syngnathus acus); snake pipefish (Entelurus aequoreus); seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus and Hippocampus guttulatus); grey triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis), ray and skate eggcases (Raja); ross/potato crisp bryozoan (Pentapora foliacea); snakelocks anemone (Anemonia viridis); jewel anemone (Corynactis viridis) and Devonshire cup coral (Caryophyllia smithii).

Please let us know if you see any of these species, either by e-mail or post, including the essential information: Species name, date found, location found (exact place name or map reference or GPS position), your name, address and telephone number, and if possible a photograph of the specimen.   You can download a record form here.

Support 

We are most grateful for the funding we have received for our Seasearch programme from Natural England and Environment Agency via National Seasearch, and to Natural England's Countdown 2010, The Crown Estate and Biodriven.

 

 

© Kent Wildlife Trust : the largest active conservation charity in Kent, Reg Charity No: 239992

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