Features

The UK boasts an incredible amount of marine wildlife which, as Kate has discovered in this season's Autumnwatch, includes seahorses. But they and many other marine species face a turbulent future unless they can be protected.

Earlier this year the Government published a draft Marine Bill that, among other things, would allow the creation of Marine Conservation Zones.

The bill is expected to be included in the Queen's Speech in December 2008 which means, if it is passed, it should become law by autumn 2009. The government aims to have a network of marine reserves set up by the end of 2012.

You can nominate sites to be considered as a reserve, perhaps your local rock-pooling spot or favourite dive location – anywhere offshore or on the coast as long as it is below the high tide mark.

Make a nomination

To propose a site visit the Marine Conservation Society's Your Seas, Your Voice page and tell them where you would like protected and why. They will collate this information and pass it on the government.

The UK is responsible for an area of sea over three times larger than our land area, including cold water corals and rocky reefs. Our seas are some of the cleanest in Europe and the Gulf Stream brings warm water and nutrients so they're also very fertile.

The seas off the UK mainland may look empty, but there is as much biodiversity off our shores as on land.

Seahorses at Studland

Studland Bay in Dorset is a popular location for holiday makers, but just metres from the bucket and spade culture you can find, with patience, some of Britain's most stunning and beautiful sea creatures – the seahorse.

"Seeing a British seahorse for the first time made even me speechless, which doesn't happen very often," says Kate.

"They are so beautiful, weird and extraordinary. The lovely thing about diving with them, if you're lucky enough to find one – and it really is like looking for a needle in a haystack – is that unlike a lot of other fish, seahorses are relatively static, so you get a really good look at them.

"The spiny seahorse that we filmed was so perfectly camouflaged in the eel grass beds that at one point I looked up to say, 'Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this,' and I look back down and it had disappeared.

"It was still there, it had just sunk back down into the eel grass but it's camouflage was so good it took me another five minutes to find it."

Sea horse protection

Seahorses were awarded legal protection under the Wildlife And Countryside Act in 2008. Not only do these creatures look amazing, unusually it is the male of the species that gives birth to their young, known as fry.

The male releases around 300-500 offspring each time they give birth from a brood pouch after a 28 day pregnancy. Unfortunately out of every 1,000 born, only get one or two may survive to maturity.

Although the species are legally protected their habitats are still under threat. Seahorses live in beds of eel grass.

"A sea grass bed is as diverse as a rainforest," says Neil Garrick-Maidment of the Seahorse Trust based in Devon.

"If you look at a sea grass bed you've got the very tall fronds of the sea grass it has an upper, middle and lower storey... So it's more diverse that a meadow. It's one of the most incredible habitats the British Isles has and we need to look after it.

"Boats are dropping their anchors into the sea grass and unfortunately because they're not aware with what's going on with their anchors it's like ploughing a field and it takes a long time for that to recover."

Becoming more aware

Eel grass tends to thrive in calm bays and shallow water, locations that tend to also make good moorings for boats. Only by making people more aware of what's under the ocean can they hopefully do something to protect it.

"I'd love it if members of the public would help me to get all the conservation organisations that are involved in marine issues, the yachting association and diving companies to help spread the word," says Kate.

"To make sure there are moorings for yachts that don't have an impact on eel grass beds so that people can still enjoy the sea, but know they're not having a negative impact on it.

"The other thing I'd like to see is really good information boards on our beaches and in key areas around the coast so that people know what's there and can appreciate how important our marine environment is and then really enjoy it and be proud of it.

"We live on a fabulously diverse island and we should celebrate that."

Kate loves being on or in the water and was fortunate enough to go diving off Studland Bay, but she's the first to admit that struggling into layers of thermals to go diving off the UK coast isn't everybody's cup of tea.

"Luckily there are warmer, drier ways to appreciated some of Britain's most spectacular wildlife," she says.

"For example, if you want to see a seahorse all you have to do is going along to the Seahorse Trust in Devon where they have them in tanks and they'll tell you all about these extraordinary creatures.

"And if you want to see some of the amazing fish and crustaceans that live in our waters go to an aquarium. Rock pooling is also another great way to see weird and wonderful creatures that not even Steven Spielberg could have dreamed up."