ERA talk: Marine Rewilding at Sussex Bay

12th February, 2026. Dean Spiers, head of Sussex Bay.

We were delighted to welcome Dean Spears, Head of Sussex Bay, in February 2026 to talk to us about the project Sussex Bay.

Sussex Bay is a collaboration involving some 450 organisations, with the aspiration that the area defined as Sussex Bay will be a healthy blue ecosystem in which nature, society and local economy can thrive. The project is hosted in Adur and Worthing councils, with the support of 11 coastal local authorities, but funded without public funds. Funding is raised by the Blue Natural Capital Lab. The project covers one hundred miles of coastline, from Selsey to Camber Sands.

The sea offers us so many benefits, including: recreation; carbon storage and climate regulation; food; energy; sand and gravel. How can we best protect the sea, thereby also protecting our own best interests?

To answer this question Sussex Bay has already published ‘Blueprint for Seascape Recovery, Part 1’ in which they introduce key concepts, share evidence and discuss the seascape of Sussex, the pressures that affect different areas and the ecosystem services they provide.

One area of interest to Sussex Bay is kelp recovery. Since the 1980 the Sussex bay area has lost a staggering 95% of its kelp, which is a large brown seaweed that acts as an ecosystem engineer, modifying the environment, creating new and different habitats. Kelp provides fish nursery grounds, it helps to mitigate coastal erosion, it absorbs atmospheric carbon, and absorbs and processes nutrients from the sea water. Kelp is under stress due to pollution, sedimentation, increasing temperatures due to climate change, and competition from invasive species.

Sussex Bay has engaged with residents to gain insight into what communities near the coast and visitors feel about their coastline. People are concerned about sewage, pollution, litter and housing development impacts, while appreciating that time spent on the beach is good for their physical and mental health, with tourism bringing a boost to the local economy.

The Blueprint for Seascape Recovery, Part 2: Plans for a Thriving Sussex Bay is due for publication soon and will bring all this insight together to map opportunity areas for marine recovery and identify priority actionable objectives, providing a coordinated vision of the route forwards.