July 2012

A conservation partnership between The Seahorse Trust and London Zoological Society was given luxury travel last week. The Seahorse Trust was given some Short Snouted Seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) from London Zoo as part of a long term breeding project but the cost of transporting the Seahorses from London to Devon was just too much to find, so Pete smith from GAC Logistics kindly stepped in and transported the seahorses in his car from London to the trust in Devon. This amazing gesture meant that the seahorses arrived in style and comfort. We would like to offer our thanks to London Zoo for the seahorses but especially GAC and Pete Smith for kindly stepping in to bring them to us. We hope now that they arrived nice and relaxed the seahorses will get around to the serious business of breeding to secure a population in captivity.

Pete with his precious cargo as it is opened in Devon

A Shout Snouted Seahorse settled in its tank

Dive Charter skipper Rick Parker has kindly offered to help the trust by organizing dives in aid of The Seahorse Trust. Rick has kindly offered to donate a percentage of the dive fee to the work of the trust.

If you want to organise a dive in aid of the trust get in touch with Rick on jenniferann@deepsea.co.uk and don’t forget to say it is in aid of the trust. We would like to say thank you to Rick for his kindness, this year is a very difficult time for dive charters due to the economy and weather which makes this offer doubly kind.

http://www.jenniferanncharters.co.uk/

East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club held its third annual Seahorse Swim race at Knoll Beach in Studland. The event was an amazzing success with over 130 swimmers taking part from all over the country. It was held by kind permission of the National Trust and supported the work of The Seahorse Trust amongst others such as the National Trust and St. John’s Ambulance.

The race was over a standard triathlon distance of 3.8 kms and produced a highly competitive race.

Despite heavy overnight rain and high winds, the weather relented in time for the start. The water temperature was a cool 13.7 degrees centigrade causing a couple of competitors to retire with the cold. However, the swimmers were delighted with the friendly rivalry in this well organised event held in good conditions

Bob Holman, chairman of the club said “We have had a fantastic day and all our swimmers have been complimenting us on providing a great swim”. The club was greatly assisted for the safety cover by RLSS Poole Lifeguard, Branksome Surf Life Saving Club, Bournemouth Lifeguard Corps, RLSS Boscombe Lifeguards, Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club and Christchurch Life Saving Club.

This is the second year Bob and the club have kindly supported The Seahorse Trust and they raised a staggering £150 for our work. We are extremely grateful to them for there amazing efforts and admire the incredible feats of swimming that were undertaken and would like to than k one and all for there feat.

The results were

Men’s Open wetsuit: Guy Giles, Wantage White Horses 47 minutes 47 seconds

Ladies Open wetsuit: Naomi Vides, Poole Swimming Club 54 minutes 40 seconds

Men’s Open non-wetsuit: Steven Hurley, Exeter City Swimming Club 55 minutes 31 seconds

Ladies Open non-wetsuit: Joanne Ball, East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club 1 hour 4 minutes 26 seconds

Roy Harding Trophy for first male non-wetsuit over 40: Stuart Purcell, East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club 55 minutes 38 seconds

Roy Harding Trophy for first female non-wetsuit over 40: Kate Mason, Weyport Masters 1 hour 10 minutes 33 seconds

Volunteer diver Steph found her first seahorse on Saturday. Felix, named by Steph is a male Spiny Seahorse that has a developed pouch but was not pregnant when we saw him, which was surprise as it is near the full moon, the optimum time for seahorses to give Birth. The huge smile on Stephs face said it all when we came to the surface and she could not stop smiling for ages afterwards.
Felix pictured below was 13.5 cm long and was just big enough to tag and his official number is 002. We will now follow Felix’s movements throughout the season and the information we gather will help us to ensure further protection for seahorses here in the UK.
By working with others such as SOS in Ireland, MCC in Cambodia, the people of Cambodia, SOS in Malaysia, the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and the SEALIFE Group around the world we can work towards a better future for seahorses and other marine species around the globe.

FELIX THE SEAHORSE AS SEEN BY VOLUNTEER STEPH