My wild life

Dr Tim Ferrero

The Trust’s senior marine biologist, Dr Tim Ferrero, explains how a deep fascination with microscopic life has translated into a passion for conserving the Solent and inspiring others to value the marine environment.

My interest in marine conservation was sparked by my degree in marine biology. The course focused on human impacts in the marine environment, particularly from oil and sewage.

My degree also ignited a lifelong interest in the microscopic world. I’ve never forgotten the fi rst time I carefully sieved a sand sample and saw the diverse world of the meiofauna (animals generally much smaller than 1 mm) living in the spaces between sand grains! After my PhD, I spent almost 24 years working at the Natural History Museum in London as a taxonomist, ecologist, and environmental consultant, largely focused on my fi rst love, meiofauna, and nematode worms specifi cally.

I joined the Trust in 2013 and though my role has changed title several times I’ve done very much the same thing – helping to lead projects focused on marine engagement and education, like Secrets of the Solent. During this time, I’ve been very lucky to work with a small, dedicated team of talented people, all determined to realise our vision of a Wilder Solent.

“Conservation can o en focus on a few key species, but it’s so important to remember the scale of wildlife and habitat diversity that we are trying to secure for the future.”

One of the things I enjoy most about my work is engaging with audiences, sharing knowledge and experience and hopefully inspiring people to value the marine environment and take action to help protect it.

Scientifically, the sea and the seabed are the two biggest habitats on Earth and the oceans are staggeringly diverse compared with the land. This is mostly unrecognised outside rather specialist circles but, for example, the oceans support twice as many animal phyla - the major branches of evolution, like molluscs or arthropods - than the terrestrial realm, and more are still being discovered!

I grew up on the south coast and from where I live now, I can just see the Solent if I peer out of my loft offi ce. I’ve really grown to love the Solent and feel a very personal connection to it. The Solent is very special, with diverse habitats, many fantastic species and some rather strange tides to contend with. But it’s also a place where the marine environment and humans come together and interact. It’s hard to imagine many other marine areas quite so busy, surrounded by large urban populations, with industry, shipping, recreational boating and commercial and recreational fi shing all occurring in a small area. This creates many pressures on habitats and species that are complicated to manage and so we must fi nd innovative ways to achieve our aims for conservation.

My proudest achievements in marine conservation to date include helping to support the designation of fi ve Marine Conservation Zones in our region and working to support the introduction of fi sheries byelaws to protect seagrass meadows from bottom-towed fi shing gear, like oyster dredges. More recently, we discovered some of the seagrass seeds we planted have germinated and given our Solent Seagrass Restoration Project its first success and that is definitely a high point! In many ways, though, the biggest rewards come from seeing smiling, happy faces on volunteers or an audience I’ve just spoken to and knowing the seed may have been sown for future marine conservationists.

There are still many pressures facing the Solent’s marine wildlife. Some we can act on fairly quickly with the right determination and investment, like managing our fisheries sustainably and reducing the inputs of nitrates and sewage overflows. But we also face the pressures of climate change and sea level rise, and these problems require global eff orts to solve. habitats like seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and oyster reefs and increase the resilience of the Solent to the changes ahead through our Wilder Solent vision.

But there is great hope in the work that we, and others are doing; always pushing for better conservation measures and individual action to reduce pressures. We’re also pushing to expand our ability to restore degraded Tim carrying out a seagrass survey.

My favourite marine wildlife fact? On planet Earth, four out of five multicellular animals is a nematode worm. Most of the life in our world would pass through your kitchen sieve! It’s crucial we never forget the importance of the wildlife we can’t see. It’s what makes the world work, and where most of the planet’s biodiversity can be found.