Plymouth University ROV surveys the Helford

An underwater survey of the Helford in mid April was made possible thanks to the use of Plymouth University’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and a small team of enthusiastic volunteers. Coordinated by Angie Gall, Richard Ticehurst from Plymouth University brought the ROV down for the day to survey some of the fascinating underwater habitats along the River. Combined with Chris Bean’s generous offer of his boat and role as skipper and Tony Sutton’s extensive knowledge of the underwater world of the Helford, the team of four had a very successful survey.

Excellent footage of eelgrass beds, thornback rays, crabs and lots more was taken although the highlight was recording a live and healthy maerl bed (we are currently awaiting confirmation of the species but are fairly confident that it is Lithothamnion corallioides).

The next step is to get a dive survey team to map the maerl bed and to start building an up to date habitat map of the Helford.

Photos and video clips from the survey will be posted in our gallery shortly!

Our thanks go to Angie, Chris, Richard and Tony for volunteering their time to orchestrate such a successful survey.