Ferry Farm Helps Power Sussex Kelp Recovery

Ferry Farm Community Solar is delighted to share the outcomes of our three-year support for the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project (SKRP), a major marine rewilding project working to restore lost kelp forests along the Sussex coastline.

Through funding provided between 2023 and 2025, Ferry Farm and Meadow Blue Community Energy helped enable essential project coordination, scientific research, and community engagement that are now contributing to visible signs of marine recovery.

Since the introduction of the Sussex Nearshore Trawling Bylaw, 300 km² of seabed has been protected, giving marine habitats the chance to regenerate. SKRP’s monitoring work supported by our funding has documented the return of important species, the expansion of blue mussel beds, and improved conditions for the regrowth of kelp. The project has also undertaken extensive seabed surveys, species identification research, and underwater monitoring to understand how recovery is progressing and what barriers remain.

Community involvement has been central to the project’s success. More than 25,000 local people have engaged with SKRP’s updates, while volunteers have contributed to dive surveys, shoreline monitoring, and citizen science recording. Local schools have also benefited from Wild Beach sessions and teacher training, helping embed ocean education in the curriculum.

SKRP hosted two public screenings of the BBC documentary Our Sea Forest in Selsey and Chichester, each followed by a Q&A with conservationists, freedivers and underwater filmmakers, giving residents the chance to ask questions and learn more about kelp recovery efforts.

SKRP’s work has now gained national and international recognition. The project hosted the UK’s first Kelp Ecology Conference and was featured in Sir David Attenborough’s 2025 book Ocean: Earth’s Last Wilderness as a symbol of hope for marine recovery. New research published by partner organisations has also shed light on the environmental conditions needed to accelerate kelp recovery in the UK.

The team also ran Wild Beach sessions for primary schools in Selsey and Bognor Regis, helping children explore their local coastline, while six teacher-training days equipped educators to deliver ocean-themed outdoor learning. Workshops with local fishers and hands-on citizen-science days, such as Seasearch and Shoresearch surveys, enabled community members to play an active role in tracking changes along the Sussex coast.

Ferry Farm Community Solar is proud to reinvest local renewable energy income into environmental and social projects such as this.

For more information on the project, head to the Sussex Wildlife Trust website.