No Take Swim - Flamborough Head

On Sunday the 9th July Middle Brother Calum completed the first of four swims for the No Take Swim Expedition 🏊‍♂️

A no-take zone is an area set aside by the government where no extractive activity is allowed. Extractive activity is any action that removes, or extracts, any resource. Extractive activities include fishing, hunting, logging, mining, and drilling. In this case, for marine No Take Zones, the prohibited activities are any and all kinds of fishing, including, pole, rod, trawling etc. Inside these zones no extractive activities are taking place, therefore leaving ecosystems mostly undisturbed. Studies have found that full protection from extractive activities will likely generate greater ecological, economic and social benefits than if protection is only partial, never mind absent entirely. These zones are critical for the recovery of marine life as well as for supporting local fishing communities by creating overspill and allowing fish and shellfish stock to recover.

The first No Take Zone we wanted to swim across was called Flamborough NTZ. This area is famous for its beautiful white cliffs, deep gorges, caves and a large colony of puffins. For this expedition, I had enlisted my fiance Serena and all-around aqua dog Hugo the Sproodle. Because I would be doing the swim on my own it was critical that I have a spotter on the cliff top who would be able to call the coast guard in case of an emergency.

All three of us were born in Yorkshire (Warmfield, Wakefield & Huddersfield) but moved away to the Lake District when our parents divorced. Despite only living there till I was 7 years old I have always felt an affinity for Yorkshire, the beauty of its landscape and its rugged honesty. On top of that, after living in London for 10 years I always missed the friendliness of its people. It was hilarious to see the shock on my fiance Serena’s face when so many people said hello, started chatting to us and gave us the proper northern welcome. I guess as a Londoner she’s just not used to how friendly people are north of Nottingham!

We arrived in Bridlington and our first port of call was the sample of the benefits of the overspill from the no-take zone. Bridlington survives by the strength of its fishing & tourist community, I’ve never seen so many fish and chip shops in one place. So the first stop was a lobster and chips! As we sat eating our lunch we watched the hustle and bustle of Bridlington Port, strong fishing economies are vital to the lifeblood of the local communities and it was brilliant to see this in action. These areas benefit directly from the no-take zones, creating overspill and benefitting two sides of the conservation coin which are often pitched at loggerheads by the oversimplification of polarized debates, a win-win situation in simpler terms!

But why was the no-take zone created in Flamborough?

The NTZ was designated in 2010 after discussions with local fishers, regulators, and conservation bodies 🎣

- The site was chosen to investigate how the local habitats might change when all extractive activities were removed/prohibited, and complement the adjacent SAC and SPA designations 🐟

- It is managed by the North Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and is the only NTZ in the North Sea 🌊

- It is an important site for monitoring changes in the shellfish populations – one of the UK’s largest shellfish landing ports is just down the shore at Bridlington harbour ⛴️

After informing the coastguard of the swim and with Serena and Hugo acting as my spotter I set off on the swim across the No Take Zone 🏊‍♂️ It felt really special to be swimming across such a unique conservation area, the water temp was warm and the white cliffs made for an impressive backdrop ⛰️ In the course of two swims (I went the wrong way at the start, put that down to over-excitement and the fact we hadn’t done an expedition since Sicily to Italy last June) I swam from Danes Dyke Beach to Sowerby steps, a swim that took me right across the No Take Zone which extends for between 700m and 800m along the shore.

I had the sea completely to myself and it was quite a special feeling to be out there in the No Take Zone. The visibility was poor due to the tides but it was fantastic knowing that the marine life beneath me was undisturbed, healthy and enjoyed protection from overfishing. But, it was bittersweet, the Flamborough No Take Zone is tiny. It took less than an hour to swim across and it was quite sad to see how little of our oceans we are prepared to protect in this way. No Take Zones are vital for conserving marine life and creating overspill which benefits the local fishing economy 🦞🦐🦀

We desperately need more No Take Zones in the UK and we will be completing 3 more swims across the remaining zones to raise more awareness for these vital conservation areas 🐟 Increasing no-take zones and fully protected areas is a clear way of providing ecological benefits while moving closer to achieving international conservation targets.

There’s no shortage of examples to prove that NTZs support the sustainability of livelihoods that depend on marine resources. A study of no-take zones in 25 Mediterranean MPAs showed that biomass was on average 420% higher inside the areas than outside, and density – the number of plants and animals – was up by 111%. Fish grow bigger in no-take zones, and bigger fish have far more young: for example, a 40cm European seabass left to grow to 80cm can produce 14 times as many offspring.

This is all highly beneficial from a conservation perspective, but what’s just as important is that fishers and others who are affected by the closure of local areas stand to benefit too. As fish and invertebrates become larger and more abundant and space becomes more limited, some are likely to move outside the zone to other areas – and here is the pay-off for local fishers, their stocks sustainably replenished from the protected population.

So please join us for the No Take Swim as we attempt to swim across the 3 remaining zones. The Medway, Lamlash and Lundy. Join the adventure and help raise awareness for these vital conservation zones!