Sunfish Diary 2009
August
At the beginning of August we had a fairly poor forecast of SW 8, but due to Torbay's micro-climate, we only had a SW3-4. We managed a great dive on the Bretagne with 6m visability and apparently it was "fish city" down there, one diver also had a really good crab.
Things weren't so great in Plymouth, where unfortunately the dive boat Aquanaut sank off Bolt Tail, click here for the full story.
Please be aware there is now a scallop ban. No scallops can be taken by ANYONE, even for personal consumption. As a result no scallops can be taken whilst diving from Sunfish. This ban finishes on October 1st 2009.
The sea life of South Devon is at its most prolific at the moment. There are lots of rapidly growing fry about now, these in turn bring in huge shoals of mackerel. There are some whopping great grey mullet feeding off the pilings around the marina, interspersed with the mullet are some clonking great bass! (Why are big mullet so frequently accompanied by equally big bass??).
Due to heavy fishing there are very few scallops remaining inshore, indeed the seabed around the Ore Stone is like a ploughed field. Its just a good thing that the dredgers can't take the rather extensive sealife that lives in the rocky gullies around this fantastic dive site
Perhaps there should be a no-take zone forbidding anyone to take any kind of sea life less than 1 mile from land, all the way around the UK! If there was a no-take zone, sea life would at least have a chance to recover. The sea is a finite resource if we take it all, it'll be gone forever.