On seaweeds, oysters and fishing in the Creek
When the grass has gone so too will the fish be gone.
The Past Glories of Milton Creek.
Milton Creek once bustled with fishing boats. These fishing grounds were finally destroyed by pollution, largely from the Mill.
Thinking about this, led me to researching and developing the idea for a new project 'RAFTE', Regenerative Aquatic Farming Thames Estuary, looking at returning fishing in the Creek and Thames estuary. Back in 1860, we were harvesting 100 million tons of oysters from the estuary per annum. Each oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day, so that's a system that can filter more than 5,000 million gallons each day. The flow of the Thames averages 178 million gallons / day.
This led me to research carried out on sea weeds, their loss and the effect of such on the marine environment and indeed on climate change. If we re-grow the weeds, the fish have somewhere to feed and grow, the weeds draw down substantially more co2 than rain forests and grow 15 times faster. They feed off the toxic nitrogen runoff from our farms, so removing these pollutants from our seas. The weed can be used for all sorts, from replacing unrecyclable plastic film, to fertiliser. Bi valves, ie. mussels can be grown amongst the weeds producing food too.
It is all about the water. Without healthy water, life ceases to exist.It seems to me that we should not just be looking at making Lloyd Wharf a place for folks to come and look at the old barges, but we should be rebuilding the Creek's ecosystem, regenerating an active fleet of historic craft that could tend the creek's needs and ultimately bring fresh sea produce back to the wharf.
Imagine a fleet of working farming and fishing craft arriving and leaving on the tide from Lloyd Wharf. This can then be rolled out and scaled up to include the Swale, Medway and Thames estuary. Re-establishing fishing grounds, livelihoods and helping to save our poor planet.
We can give Sittingbourne not just a 'Wharf', a 'destination' but a working Creek, and make the planet healthier at the same time.
Two inspirational projects already happening in this are are the Sussex Kelp Restoration and the Essex Oyster InitiativeI would like to attract funding to restore traditional Thames fishing craft, and to start a program of building replicas of these craft. Like the barge, they were extremely efficient, sustainable, and their design had evolved over centuries, only to be replaced by the diesel engine.
Rob on Raybel