Seagrass beds, mudflats, and vitals areas of saltmarsh could all vanish from the Solent – the strait of marine environment between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain – within the next 100 years, following the fate of local oyster beds that have already been lost from the region over the last 20 years.

This is the message being hammered home in a recently released report commissioned by the Solent Seascape Project which found that across the region, many bird and fish species are also in a state of significant decline.

The report has brought together data for the first time to reveal that many of the internationally important habitats within the Solent, as well as key animal species, have suffered “dramatic declines” leaving them in a current vulnerable state that could see them totally wiped out in the future.

The Solent is an area of great importance for its wildlife while providing homes for overwintering marine and coastal birds as well as seabird breeding colonies. Meanwhile, its harbours and estuaries are of particular importance to juvenile fish, rays, and sharks.

Over 11,500 pairs of seabirds bred in the Solent region in 2023 and the area is recognised internationally for being an important spot for populations of dark-bellied Brent geese.

Despite all this and being covered by many environmental designations designed to protect it, the Solent faces increasing pressure from human activity, including pollution and climate change, which is leading to – as the report suggests – the “irrevocable loss of these vital habitats”.

Solent project manager for the Blue Marine Foundation, Louise MacCallum, said: “As someone who has lived on the shores of the Solent for more than a decade, it is hugely sad to see all the evidence of nature’s decline here in a single report. You read about nature being in trouble on the global stage, but having stark evidence for that trend happening right here on my doorstep is distressing.”

Among some of the most alarming findings within the report are those indicating just how rapidly habitats can vanish. Despite the Solent oyster fishery being one of the last remaining – and largest – native oyster fisheries in Europe until the early 2000s, since 2007 naturally occurring native oyster reefs have all been lost from the Solent, leaving only fragmented remnant populations of oysters in its wake.

Conservationists now warn that other habitats could swiftly follow suit, with saltmarsh declining rapidly to half its extent 80 years ago, and around 92% of seagrass meadows lost in the UK over the last century.

Not only are the habitats at risk, but so too are the large variety of animals which depend on the marine and coastal areas found in the Solent, including 85% of all seabirds that breed among the region’s saltmarsh islands.

Already, the numbers of non-breeding waders in the Solent have seen a decline of almost 60% over the last 30 years, while across the UK, since the late 1990s, breeding seabird numbers have reduced by 28% on average.

But there is hope, the report has been quick to add. Because in fact, the active restoration recommended to stop this decline is already taking place across the Solent, much of it led by the Solent Seascape Project itself. 

And in doing this, the organisation is delivering a first of its kind project in the UK with the aim to protect and restore nature on a seascape level within the area.  

To date, this work includes the creation of oyster reefs, the planting of seagrass, and the restoration of saltmarsh and seabird islands, all to initiate recovery of the marine and coastal environment to start “tipping the balance from a degraded state to a naturally expanding, connected and productive ecosystem.”

Working with local people, community groups, industry representatives, and politicians, the Solent Seascape Project also aims to develop and co-create a Seascape Recovery Plan to support the better management of existing Solent marine and coastal habitats.

“Solent nature is in trouble, but the Solent Seascape Project hopes to help kick start its recovery, reconnecting the seascape into a vibrant, ecologically connected marine landscape,” added MacCallum. “It’s not too late for Solent nature, but it is now or never.”

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