On Saturday 25 March eight Sea Cadets based at the Sea Cadets Centre at Port Edgar spent an enjoyable day working together to assemble a SeaHive artificial reef, and suspend it from a pontoon in the marina.
The Sea Cadets demonstrated their ability to work effectively and safely as a team, while using a variety of tools and construction methods. Because the SeaHive is manufactured partly from processed and recycled fishing net, it provided an excellent example of how plastic can be re-used with a positive purpose.
The Sea Cadets Centre at Port Edgar is an ideal location for a SeaHive as it provides access to the plankton and nutrient rich waters of the North Sea, in an environment protected from extreme tidal and wave action. The abundance of filter feeding animals on the hard surfaces around the marina confirm that there is an abundance of marine life in the local area, which now has access to new surfaces to colonise that will remain permanently submerged. The Sea Hive will also provide shelter from predators for small fish and invertebrates like crabs and octopus to grow and breed.
Having successfully completed the deployment, the Sea Cadets are now planning to monitor and record how a new marine ecosystem develops on and around the SeaHive, and especially how the different species of animals and algae change through the seasons and through future years.
‘What a great bunch of Sea Cadets are at Port Edgar. They really know how to work as a team to get the job done.’
