Beachy Head East recommended Marine Conservation Zone (rMCZ), on the Sussex Coast, is a real mosaic of the habitats that characterise the seas off the South East of England.

Hugging the shore, the proposed MCZ would protect the rich rockpools found here. Past surveys by Sussex Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers have found colourful nudibranchs (sea slugs), weird bootlace worms and even a cuttlefish hiding here. The site is so rich in seaweed that it is considered one of Plantlife’s Important Plant Areas!

Diving offshore, you’ll find the Royal Sovereign Shoals, an area of sandstone reef with chalk outcrops, and the rocky Horse of Willingdon Reef. Both are classified as Marine Sites of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCIs).  Take a peek into nooks and crevices and you might just spot the cheeky face of a tompot blenny – or the devilish red eyes of a velvet swimming crab! A living turf of sea squirts, sponges and hydroids carpet areas of reef – look closely and you might spot the candy striped flatworm.

Away from these rocky reefs, the seabed is dotted with living reefs – that is reefs made entirely of animals, in this case blue mussels. In August 2017, a team of divers led by Sussex Wildlife Trust dived a previously unexplored area of the site and discovered a large mussel bed which they named Bexhill Mussel Garden. Here they found dead men’s fingers – a type of soft coral, Dahlia anemones, plaice, hermit crabs and spider crabs. Blue mussel beds, like all biogenic reefs, are vulnerable to trawling and dredging – highlighting the need to protect these habitats and the amazing wildlife they support.

Beachy Head East rMCZ is an important area for fish, including black seabream, the rainbow-coloured cuckoo wrasse and European eel. It is believed that herring – a commercially important fish species - spawn on the gravel beds in the early spring and that it is an important nursery area for plaice and Dover sole. Rich fish life entices birds to feed here, including kittiwakes and common terns.

Beachy Head East, like many of the other sites we believe should be designated as MCZs, has been identified by the Government’s own Scientists as at risk of damage and degradation. The site was originally proposed by the local fishing community seeking to protect the reef habitats on which their fishery depends from damage by mobile fishing gear. It’s vital that this site is protected as soon as possible.