Habitat replenishment on Lymington River

The project, which was given the go ahead by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in December 2011, is being funded by The Crown Estate’s marine research programme. It is being undertaken by Lymington Yacht Haven supported by specialist contractors Willowbank on behalf of the Lymington Harbour Commissioners.

The funding of the project is the result of detailed discussions over the last two years between The Crown Estate and the Harbour Commissioners, and will be used to restore the level of intertidal saltmarsh habitat behind Lymington Harbour’s newly constructed breakwaters, using fresh sediment from dredging.

If successful, the project will also increase the level of certainty that rock breakwaters being constructed near the river entrance to the harbour will result in an increase in the persistence of intertidal mud and saltmarsh habitat. The project is part of a wider strategy to safeguard the harbour through the construction of rock breakwaters, designed to ensure that the harbour continues to benefit the local economy over the long term.

Two breakwaters will be constructed either side of the main navigation channel and will be built over six phases as the saltmarsh recedes. The first phase of the west breakwater is already in place with work on the eastern breakwater due to start in 2017. Without the breakwaters the Harbour Commissioners concluded that “much of the harbour will become untenable for moorings and recreational use.”

Lymington Harbour Commissioners are constructing the breakwater in a phased approach over the next 30 years depending on the rate at which the saltmarsh recedes, with the first phase completed last year. The natural saltmarshes alongside the river channel, which have historically provided protection to shelter the harbour, have been receding for some time.