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 sou ...

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 H ...

. 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. 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 (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 boun ...

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 ...

Newhaven Newhaven may refer to: Places * Newhaven, Derbyshire, England, a hamlet *Newhaven, East Sussex, England, a port town * Newhaven, Edinburgh, Scotland *Newhaven Sanctuary, Northern Territory, Australia *Newhaven, Victoria, Australia Other uses *Ne ...

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 spec ...

. 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 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 blu ...

. 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 Baillon's wrasse (''Symphodus bailloni'') is a species of wrasse native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the British Isles and Belgium to Mauritania and the western Mediterranean Sea along the coast of Spain and around the Balearic Islan ...

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. Covering an area of ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...

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 and the lesser spotted dogfish.

References

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

Fauna

See also

References