Eighteen tide pools to enhance marine life are being installed in the rock revetment at Frontage 1 (Long Curtain Moat) of the Portsmouth City Council-led Southsea Coastal Scheme.
The concrete pools are designed to create ecosystems that mimic natural rock pools found on rocky coastlines.
The pools retain water to increase the habitat diversity at all states of the tide, and the concrete material has a reduced pH to encourage colonisation by marine species.
It is expected that the marine life and flora and fauna to populate the tide pools will include seaweeds, barnacles, periwinkles and anemones.
Southsea Coastal Scheme Environment Enhancement Lead Lucy Sheffield said:
“We’re installing these tide pools into our rock revetment to increase biodiversity and create additional habitat for marine species that will provide an ecological enhancement to the coastline.
“It’s great to be able to incorporate enhancement into the Southsea Coastal Scheme and leave the coast better than we started, demonstrating that this project is so much more than just a flood defence.”
Thanks to £20K match funding from the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund, the tide pools were installed.
The Southsea Coastal Scheme is the UK’s largest local authority-led coastal defences’ project, worth more than £100M. It will stretch for 4.5km from Old Portsmouth to Eastney.
