• Annual Management Report
• Annual Meeting
• Annual Survey
• Condition Assessments
• Conservation Advice
• Management Scheme
• Management Scheme Activities
• Accidental vessel discharges
• Boat Repair/Maintanence
• Fishing/Shellfisheries
• Grazing
• Land recreation
• Littering
• Marine Recreation
• Mooring and Anchoring
• Operation of FREM
• Operation of Ports and Harbours
• Recreational Light Aircraft
• Shore Based Fisheries
• Slipways
• Watersports
• Wildfowling
• SEMS Management Group
• SEMS Sites
• Strategic Stakeholder Group

Land Based Recreation

SEMS considers three types of land based recreation:

1. Land recreation - Dog walking Activities that involve dogs, including when dogs are used for wildfowling
2. Land recreation - Walking (other than dog walking) on upper shore or intertidal zone
3. Land recreation - Other Activities that involve educational or scientific studies, horses and riding, fireworks displays, swimming, rock pooling, surfing, non-motorised land craft (e.g. sand yachting, kite buggying).

The SEMS annual monitoring considers access and land recreation to be a critical issue to address in the SEMS management scheme. Information from Natural England's new conservation advice packages  for the Solent's designated sites highlights the following potential effects that land based recreation may have on habitats and species.

• Above water noise
• Litter
• Visual disturbance
• Abrasion/disturbance of the substrate on the surface of the seabed
• Organic enrichment
• Penetration and/or disturbance of the substrate below the surface of the seabed, including abrasion
• Removal of non-target species

Bird Aware Solent

Bird Aware Solent is the brand name of the Solent Recreation Mitigation Partnership (SRMP). It is made up of fifteen local councils, Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Solent Forum, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and Chichester Harbour Conservancy.

The purpose of the SRMP, is to facilitate joint working by local authorities and other bodies on the implementation of measures which will mitigate the impact of additional recreational activity which will result from planned housing development. This is to prevent a significant effect on the three Special Protection Areas in the Solent. It succeeds the Solent Disturbance and Mitigation Project which commissioned research into the impact. View the Bird Aware Solent website. 

England Coast Path

Work is well underway on the England Coast Path - a new National Trail around all of England’s coast. For the first time people will have the right of access around all our open coast. This includes (where appropriate) any land, other than the trail itself, which forms part of the coastal margin and which has public rights of access along the way. This is known as ‘spreading room’. Natural England expects to complete work on the England Coast Path in 2020. For details and the progress of the path around the south coast, which includes the Solent, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/england-coast-path-in-the-south-of-england. As part of the process in establishing the path, Natural England carries out an 'Access and Sensitive Features Appraisal'. This document records the conclusions of its appraisal of any potential for environmental impacts from the proposals to establish the path in the light of the requirements of the legislation affecting Marine Protected Areas.

Resources

• Bird Aware Solent Coastal Code
• England Coast Path
• Bird Aware Solent
• Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore Sites of Special Scientific Interest - Investigation into the impacts of Recreational Disturbance on Bird Declines (NECR201), Nov 2015.
• Solent Disturbance and Mitigation project research and publications
• Natural England IPENS Public Access and Disturbance Theme Plan