Royal seal of approval for charity’s ambitious plans to restore coastal marine life in the Solent region

Princess Eugenie with Solent Seascape Project partners including the RSPB, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency at the Spinnaker Tower. Picture: Matt Jarvis, Blue Marine Foundation

In her capacity as a Blue Marine Foundation Ambassador, Princess Eugenie visited the Solent Seascape Project (SSP) to see for herself the crucial work being done and meet key project partners.

SSP is a multi-million-pound initiative to restore marine habitats across the Solent region. This five-year partnership, funded by the Endangered Landscapes Programme, aims to restore seagrass, saltmarsh, oysters and seabird nesting habitats.

The project has taken significant steps recently, with work to restore saltmarsh in Chichester

harbour begun and the formation of a new oyster reef in the River Hamble featured in The News last week.

The Solent strait is one of the most heavily used waterways in the UK, negatively affecting internationally important marine and coastal habitats.

The Princess accompanied the Solent team to the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences to make biosecurity checks on native oysters being prepared for introduction in Langstone Harbour.

These nurseries dotted around the Solent’s marinas will help to repopulate the new oyster beds in Langstone Harbour and the River Hamble, by producing millions of offspring that can settle and grow.

The Princess also took a boat trip to help the team lower the new nurseries against a pontoon in Langstone Harbour.

Princess Eugenie said: ‘It was so inspiring to visit the Blue Marine team in Portsmouth and learn about the important role marine wildlife and habitat plays in the waterways of the Solent.

‘I’m so excited by scalable projects like this, putting life back literally oyster-by-oyster. The Solent Seascape partnership really shows what can be achieved when passionate and dedicated partners come together.’

The Princess completed her visit meeting project partners including the RSPB, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency at the Spinnaker Tower.

Blue Marine Foundation is a UK ocean conservation charity set up in 2010, aiming to restore the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems.

The charity is dedicated to creating marine reserves, restoring vital habitats and establishing models of sustainable fishing.

Its mission is to see 30 per cent of the world’s ocean under effective protection by 2030.