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Community science for healthy coasts

Kelp in shallow waters, with sunlight streaming from above

© Joost van Uffelen / Shutterstock

This project is a collaborative effort involving coastal enthusiasts, researchers, and organizations to promote healthier and more resilient coastlines across Britain.

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At a glance

Investigate kelp along your stretch of coastline

Type of activity: Outdoor sampling of kelp and an online survey

Who can take part? Anyone who has access to a beach with kelp on it

When? Ongoing

Where? Any beach or rocky shoreline that has kelp on it. We have a number of suggested sites, but if you live locally to a kelp population, we would love you to survey it!

How long will it take? 45 minutes to survey, then a 10-minute online form

By engaging with nature and participating in coastal activities, you can enhance your mental well-being while contributing valuable insights into the management and protection of coastal ecosystems. 

The first strand of this project is the Underwater Forests survey.

The Underwater Forests survey

This survey is recording kelp forests along the British coastline. Kelp forests are one Earth's most productive habitats: they support a wide variety of marine life by providing habitat, shelter and nursery grounds for species such as seabream, bass, cuttlefish, lobsters and a wide range of marine invertebrates.

Kelp forests also alter the movement of water on the coastline and can provide a buffer against storm damage by reducing wave energy onto the land.

Sign-ups closed

Sign-ups are currently closed for the Underwater Forests project as we have reached volunteer capacity.

How to take part

If you live near a beach or rocky shoreline that has kelp on it and are interested in taking part in the survey, please fill in our sign-up form.

Participants will survey the kelp by running a monthly survey at a given location at the lowest tide of the month.

The survey consists of:

  1. Taking photographs of the kelp patch from a distance.
  2. Heading down to the kelp patch and completing three surveys at different points within the patch by counting kelp within a given square.
  3. Submitting the data you collect to an online form.

Some suggested locations

Here is a list of some suggested kelp sites. If you don’t live near one of these sites and are unsure where your local kelp population is, get in touch by emailing communityscience@nhm.ac.uk with 'Coastal Health' in your subject line. We will help find your local kelp patch!
 
  • Kent – Dover – Shakespeare cliff beach
  • Dorset – Kimmeridge Bay
  • Devon South Bolberry Down – Hope cove 
  • Devon – Plymouth Sound – Cawsand Bay 
  • Devon – Plymouth – Wembury 
  • Devon – Thurlestone
  • Cornwall – St Austell Gribbin Head, Fowey 
  • Cornwall – Fal/Helford Bizzie’s Reef, St Gerrans Bay
  • Cornwall – Fal/Helford Manacle Point – possible access at Porthoustock beach
  • Cornwall – Fal/Helford Cadgwith, Lizard Point
  • Cornwall – Hannafore Point, Looe
  • Cornwall – Falmouth – Gyllyngvase beach
  • Yorkshire – Flamborough head (Selwick bay and Bridlington bay)
Have you surveyed a site? Submit your findings via our form.

Meet the team

Juliet Brodie

Professor Juliet Brodie is a merit research specialising in seaweeds at the Natural History Museum, London. She is passionate about her research which focuses on seaweeds in a time of rapid environmental change and has taken her to many parts of the world.

Chris Yesson

Dr Chris Yesson is a senior research fellow at the Zoological Society of London. Chris studies a variety of seabed habitats in coastal, shallow and deep seas around the UK and beyond. He has been studying kelp for more than a decade and is research lead for the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project.

Katy Potts

Katy has worked for the Natural History Museum since 2015.

Her roles include working within the Entomology department on African Beetles and within the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Nature on the ID Trainers, Brilliant Butterflies and GenePools projects.

She is now the project manager of Community Science for Healthy Coasts, where she leads the Underwater Forests project.

Project team and contacts

If you have any queries, please contact the Community Science team at communityscience@nhm.ac.uk with 'Coastal Health' in your subject line.

UK Government logo

The Underwater Forests project is part of the UK government’s HM Treasury funded Coastal Health, Livelihoods and Environment Shared Outcomes Fund. This aims to provide a data and analytical framework to understand and monitor health status of coastal marine organisms and their ecosystems.

More ways you can help coastal health

If you live near the sea, why not take part in our other coastal survey?

Visit the Big Seaweed Search webpage to help us record how seaweeds around the UK may be being affected by climate change.

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