Select a region
One of Jersey's top Ports officials has revealed aspirations to unlock a new tourism opportunity by turning St. Catherine's into Jersey's first ever "green harbour"... But what would this involve?
Speaking in the latest issue of Connect, Ports of Jersey's Head of Maritime Operations Louise Stafford shared a number of ways she aims to transform the bay.
From 'rewilding' efforts both at sea and on land, to trialling eco moorings, and making nearby businesses adopt sustainable practices, here's what she had to say...
Ms Stafford cited the "eco moorings" installed earlier this year as one of the main schemes already being trialled in the bay.
Two types of seagrass-friendly moorings are currently being tested, to see if they have a reduced impact on the seabed.
"In that area, we've got seagrass and it's so important. We always talk about ‘carbon capture’, and that’s a big focus, but it’s also a nursery for young fish, which is then supporting our fish and the fishing community," Ms Stafford explained.
Pictured: Could St. Catherine's become a green harbour?
"Under our current remit, St. Catherine’s is the only one where we’ve got a significant amount of seagrass. A key part of the work is that we're going to write a paper that is not too scientific, so that other harbours can pick it up and see the work we’ve done," she continued.
"It’s not to say that work hasn’t been done by others harbours in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, but they’ve got a very small tidal range, so it's a simpler model to implement. With such a large tidal range, this is where we've hit the challenge.
"We can't just buy something off the shelf to put in, so we've been working with a couple of companies on bespoke designs."
Pictured: "Eco moorings" are being trialled in St. Catherine's Bay.
"The two that are in, we're quite happy in terms of the seabed protection. It's now making sure that they are navigationally safe, so it's how they sit in the water and how they float in the water so that another vessel passing by isn't going to get caught up with the mooring lines," Ms Stafford added.
"One of them is a French design, and they’ve already got moorings deployed on the French coast with a similar tidal range… On the other side, the ‘Seaflex’ moorings that we're looking at, they’ve got a slightly different design. Both have good guarantees of about 10 years."
Ms Stafford also revealed that a rewilding project was being carried out in an area around Gibraltar Rock. More native species will be planted in the hope of encouraging biodiversity.
"A lot [of the area] is overgrown with ivy – ivy is really good for biodiversity and insect life, but can we bring in some different heights of vegetation and native vegetation to make it more diverse?" she explained.
"We’re working with Trees for Life, who are going to do the planting and manage the species we've got there and make sure that they're not strangled by things like ivy."
She also outlined an ambition for businesses operating in the area to adopt environmentally friendly practices. This, combined with the other green projects, should help encourage eco tourism, the Head of Maritime Operations explained.
"I hope we can then start working with our tenants [in St. Catherine's Bay] to look at some more sustainable things for them in terms of their businesses, so that we can advertise it as a ‘green harbour’," she said.
"We can use that as an example and think about how we can roll that out to other harbours that we’re custodians of.
"Some will be harder than others, and they’ll all have different challenges – they’ve all got different habitats – but hopefully we can do that and help support the island tourism with something different."
Louise Stafford featured in Connect Magazine's Unplugged feature, which first appeared in the August edition. You can find Connect around the island or read the digital edition below...
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.