What we do:

The Trust was established  to conserve  St Mawes harbour for the benefit of all. The waters of the harbour are enjoyed by a great range of people, and for a variety of different reasons. It is our aim to identify any threats to the harbour – be they commercial or environmental – and to do our best to ensure that the essential character is not changed.

Survey:

The St Mawes Marine Habitats Survey is being conducted around St Mawes Harbour over a two-year period, from 2010-11. Funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the study aims to understand more about the nationally-important marine habitats that exist in St Mawes. Primarily, these habitats are maerl and sea-grass, each of which constitute important feeding and nursery grounds for a large range of marine life.

Using divers, the study involves following submarine transects across the harbour, recording information and taking photographs of the sea-bed. These will result in a map of the entire sea-bed, highlighting areas in particular of maerl and sea-grass. Further analysis will also take place.

St Mawes Harbour has never been surveyed in this way. Dive-surveys of this kind are expensive and rarely-conducted. The results will therefore  provide invaluable material for scientsits and their critical studies of marine biodiversity. It will also, it is hoped, add to a wider appreciation of the natural attributes of St Mawes.