Kingmere Marine Conservation Zone is in the English Channel, between and off the West Sussex coast to the south of

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort, and pleasure harbour, and the most populous civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south sout ...

and

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

. It covers an area of around . The MCZ contains two marine Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCIs) - Kingmere Rocks, off Littlehampton, and the Worthing Lumps, off of Worthing. ''Kingmere Rocks'' are one of the best-known spawning sites for the

black seabream The black seabream (''Spondyliosoma cantharus'') is a species of Sparidae fishes. They are recognisable by their oval compressed body and jaws containing 4-6 rows of slender teeth which are larger at the front. They are silvery in colour with bl ...

. Kingmere may also be the most important for sea bream in the UK. The rocky habitats and chalk outcrops provide ideal nesting grounds. Lying some three miles off the coast of Worthing, the ''Worthing Lumps'' are a series of underwater chalk cliff faces, up to three metres high. The lumps have been described as "one of the best chalk reefs in Europe" by the

Marine Conservation Society The Marine Conservation Society is a UK based not-for-profit organization working with businesses, governments and communities to clean and protect the oceans. Founded in 1983, the group claims to be working towards "cleaner, better-protected, h ...

. The Kingmere MCZ site is within the jurisdiction of the Sussex

Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority There are 10 Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) in England. The 10 IFCA Districts cover English coastal waters out to 6 nautical miles from Territorial Baselines. Although autonomous the 10 IFCAs have a shared 'vision' to "lead, ...

(Sussex IFCA) for fisheries management. The site is mainly fished by vessels based on the Sussex coast in

Selsey Selsey is a seaside town and civil parish, about eight miles (12 km) south of Chichester in West Sussex, England. Selsey lies at the southernmost point of the Manhood Peninsula, almost cut off from mainland Sussex by the sea. It is bounde ...

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

, Newhaven and

. The main commercial fishery is potting, followed by

netting In law, set-off or netting are legal techniques applied between persons or businesses with mutual rights and liabilities, replacing gross positions with net positions. It permits the rights to be used to discharge the liabilities where cross cla ...

and

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...

. Most vessels fishing in the site are small static gear boats under 10 metres.

Fauna

Kingmere Rocks is one of the most important sites for the breeding of black sea bream. Male black sea bream search for suitable parts of the sea bed on which to spawn and then use their tails to create nests within the sediment that lies over the rock. Female sea bream then lay eggs in the nest which is watched over by the males until the eggs hatch. The juvenile sea bream then remain in the area of the nest for some time. Because of their delicate spawning bahviour, black sea bream are vulnerable to fishing practices like scallop-dredging that churn up the sea bed. The Worthing Lumps is home to the first and only location for Baillon's wrasse in Sussex, a fish normally found in the British Isles off the coast of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

in Ireland.{{cite web, url=https://www.mcsuk.org/mpa/show-UKMCZ0009, title=Kingmere MCZ, publisher=

, accessdate=15 October 2018 The Worthing Lumps are home to other rare fish such as

blennies Blenny (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true ...

and the

lesser spotted dogfish The small-spotted catshark (''Scyliorhinus canicula''), also known as the sandy dogfish, lesser-spotted dogfish, rough-hound or morgay (in Scotland and Cornwall), is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found on the continental shelves ...

References

Marine conservation English Channel West Sussex Reefs of England Coastal geography Marine reserves of the United Kingdom

Fauna

See also

References