A conservation project is reporting increased black sea bream and “mussel beds stretching more than a kilometre”, five years since a ban on bottom trawling.

Sussex Kelp Recovery Project (SKRP) said a “quiet but powerful transformation is unfolding beneath the waves” since its launch half a decade ago.

The project followed the introduction of a byelaw in 2021 protecting a 117 sq mile (302 sq km) area between Shoreham and Selsey in West Sussex.