In October 2018 a four-year Solent based marine project sounded like such a long time, but now those 4 years are coming to an end. The project, Secrets of the Solent, our dedicated team, partners and our amazing Marine Champions have achieved a great deal in that time. Here we reflect on its greatest achievements.

Safeguarding the future of the Solent

The life in our seas and around our coastlines is mesmerising, secretive and vital to our health and wellbeing. With increasing threats from human activity, habitat loss and climate change, our natural world has never been under more pressure. But in order to protect our amazing marine wildlife, we need data - and lots of it.

Secrets of the Solent’s citizen science initiatives have pooled data collected by individual volunteers, transforming small actions into big results. Over the course of the project, the public have been encouraged to submit marine mammal sightings and document occurrences of seagrass, helping to expand knowledge of the locations of internationally important seagrass beds within the Solent.

The project’s twelve annual intertidal surveys were incredibly popular, with over 179 volunteers taking part to be trained in marine biodiversity and intertidal surveying techniques. The surveys were vital in building evidence and monitoring populations of vulnerable species like the native oyster and non-native species like the Asian date mussel. In fact, they were so successful that BBC Countryfile featured a survey at Lepe in their episode Plant Britain by the sea in mid-2022.

Encouraging meaningful change

The coasts and seas of our region are teeming with wonderful wildlife and valuable habitats, but to keep them that way requires a united effort. Our daily lives have an enormous impact on our seas - most of the pollution found there originates on land, and the ways in which we use the water can harm marine species and habitats. This means we all have the power to make a difference if we work together.

Shortly after its creation, the project launched Wilder Solent, a campaign designed to help people make small changes in their everyday lives to benefit the local marine environment. Simple adjustments ranged from pledging to use environmentally friendly cleaning products to committing to a two-minute beach clean once a week.

In 2021, Secrets of the Solent partnered with Hampshire Fare to raise awareness about sustainable seafood, providing guidance for retailers, hospitality, and consumers to choose seasonal, sustainable options and discover what is caught locally. The project also worked closely with the boating community to encourage the adoption of greener practices and installed three litter-collecting Seabins in marinas, raising awareness of the dramatic impact plastic can have on the health of our seas.

Using art to inspire

The Solent is home to a wealth of marine life seldom seen by visitors to the shore or even by those who live around it. From scythe-tailed thresher sharks to biofluorescent anemones, there is much hidden beneath the surface with the capacity to astonish and inspire. Over its duration, Secrets of the Solent has used a variety of creative projects to reach a vast public audience within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and beyond. From events, traditional interpretation panels and guided walks to videos, collaborative exhibitions and wall murals, the project has shone a spotlight on both the wildlife the Solent and the people living alongside it. This work has helped to place the marine environment front and centre in the numerous communities and tourist destinations along our coastline.

Fostering an active community

The public played an invaluable role within Secrets of the Solent – from taking part in workshops, voting for wildlife murals, attending exhibitions and events, to conducting citizen science. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that engaged with or took part in the project, particularly our fantastic volunteers. During its four-year span, we recruited and trained 240 Marine Champions and 33 Marine Ambassadors. With their help, we have showcased our work at many public events, given talks to local groups and sailing clubs, undertaken wildlife safaris on ferry crossings, and reached out to local communities across the region. Their dedication and enthusiasm has been the backbone of Secrets of the Solent, and we couldn't have done it without them.

Although the project is ending, we hope people will continue to work for a Wilder Solent. To learn more about our region’s waters and how you can protect them, visit our Wilder Solent webpage.