Manx Wildlife Trust has produced a Manx marine invasive non-native species ID guide thanks to funding by Sea-Changers, a UK-based marine conservation charity. The purpose of the guide is to raise awareness of marine invasive non-native species and help people to identify species they might find. This ties in well with the Manx Government’s development of a marine invasive biosecurity plan that should be issued shortly.

Marine invasive non-native species can cost millions of pounds in terms of clean-up and removal programmes all around the British Isles and the wider world. They can cover outfall pipes and marinas, tend to be fast growing and can smother and/or outcompete our native species for space and food, limiting diversity and changing habitats. They are transported on boat hulls or ballast water, or directly as a commercial exploitable species, such as the Pacific Oyster. Sadly, the transportation of species around the world is likely to get worse, due to the increased use of boats for transportation of goods and people and also as a result of global warming.

The ID guides provide information on how to identify the species, where they come from and where they have been seen on the Island. They also list some species that have the potential to arrive in our waters in the future but haven’t been spotted as yet.

Lara Howe, the Manx Wildlife Trust’s Marine Officer, will be giving a talk about marine invasive non-native species at a range of locations around the Island between 20 September and 1 October 2015. Please go to the Trust’s website www.manxwt.org.uk or Facebook page for more details. Lara will be giving out copies of the ID guides free of charge at the talks whilst soft copies may also be downloaded from the website.

If you find what you think is a marine invasive non-native species please contact the Manx Wildlife Trust by email to enquiries@manxwt.org.uk and include full details of where you found the species as well as a photograph if possible.

Photo - A Pacific Oyster, a bivalve mollusc from Asia that has been spotted in Ramsey harbour.