The second of Vectis Expeditions Solent Oyster 2023 expeditions was completed on 17th August.

A focus for VEL this year has been to run pilot events for BSAC / Seawilding’s Underwater Surveyor Course as well as learning more about native flat oysters.  Half of the BSAC / Seawilding Underwater Surveyor Course is online with the practical element being completed during a day’s diving.

The case study for the course was the BLUE oyster reef located in Langstone Harbour.  Its been such a great opportunity to dive this site two years in succession, enabling us to see and report back on changes on the site over that time.

The second of the two expeditions built on the earlier expedition survey output and learnings.

This time we varied some of the survey positions and survey techniques.  Conducting video transects and presence/absence surveys and collecting a scan of the seabed either side of each transect.

We recovered some more samples of native oyster shells for BLUE scientists to analyse.  We were surprised to find a pacific oyster shell on the site, whose demise was likely to have been caused by an oyster drill. 

They were lots of juvenile cuttlefish swimming around on this dive.

Thanks to another great eclectic team of BSAC divers : Andrew, James, Aga, Sam and Chris.

Thanks for BLUE Marine Foundation for providing access to their native oyster reef restoration project and Eric for his technical support.