Student project reveals the underwater world of Falmouth Harbour

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Student project reveals the underwater world of Falmouth Harbour

MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford is using underwater video technology to showcase the diversity of marine life in the region

Sand eels captured on camera as part of a project by MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford in Falmouth Harbour

Mr Alan Williams

Media and Communications Manager

Corporate Communications (Marketing and Communications)

28 August 2025

A student from the University of Plymouth is using her dissertation project to reveal some of the fascinating marine life living in the waters of .

MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford is collaborating with the team managing the harbour to develop and deploy Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems units (BRUVS) on the harbour floor.

She has now captured around 30 hours of footage featuring species including a nursehound shark, five types of crabs (spider, shore, velvet swimmer, edible and hermit crab), a conger eel, snakelocks anemones and a range of fish including bass, wrasse, shanny, and poor cod.

The cameras have been deployed in two areas, one off Trefusis Head and the other beside the intertidal reef cubes and habitiles installed below the harbour wall at Church Street car park, and Natasha will now be carrying out a statistical analysis to compare species between the two reef sites ahead of writing her masters dissertation.

She is hoping her project can be done on a yearly basis and in different locations to see if reefs remain healthy and to understand how artificial reefs are working around the UK, comparing sites to see where they are most effective.

Artificial reefs like Falmouth’s are created around the world to restore habitats and increase biodiversity, but despite their popularity there’s limited evidence to show how they actually work.

I’m trying to find out whether these artificial reefs support the same variety of species as the natural rocky reefs nearby. As I go through the footage it’s so exciting to see what’s down there – in one case an entire shoal of more than 100 sand smelts – and I have to count every one. I couldn’t have done the project without the incredible help of the Falmouth Harbour team and it’s wonderful for us all to see species interacting within the artificial reef.

Natasha Bamford
MSc Marine Conservation student

MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford retrieving monitoring equipment from Falmouth Harbour

Falmouth Harbour is the third deepest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Western Europe, providing a unique habitat for a diverse range of marine life.

“I am always fascinated by the incredible creatures living beneath the surface of our seas – so these past few weeks have been particularly exciting. We’ve been working with Natasha and her colleagues to deploy two BRUVS systems in different areas of the harbour, with a project aim being to compare a natural rocky reef with an artificial one, to see if there's a difference in the mobile species present.”

Vicki Spooner
Falmouth Harbour Environment Manager

Natasha and the Harbour team have also worked with Our Only World, who sourced funding for the installation of the habitiles and reef cubes and provided some additional funding to support Natasha’s project.

“It is always a privilege to be involved with the Falmouth Harbour team and be a part of their amazing conservation work. We extend our sincere thanks to Natasha for her valued hard work and collaboration and also to Sea-Changers who provided the grant. We are looking forward to the results.”

Tina Robinson
Founder, Our Only World

A sea bass observed during underwater monitoring by MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford in Falmouth Harbour

A spiny spider crab observed during underwater monitoring by MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford in Falmouth Harbour

A nursehound shark observed during underwater monitoring by MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford in Falmouth Harbour

Natasha Bamford – my marine conservation story:

I was drawn to the MSc Marine Conservation programme in Plymouth because of its strong connections to external conservation organisations. The workshops with these partners have definitely been a highlight, as they have given me the chance to hear directly from people working in the sector and to see how conservation science is applied in the real world.

I’ve also really valued the opportunity to work on a range of assignments from writing a journal article for kids to writing about habitat vulnerability in the form of a parliamentary POSTnote. This range of activities has really helped me strengthen my skills in many areas particularly in communicating science to different audiences.

When it came to my dissertation, I hoped the opportunity to work with Falmouth Harbour would mean my research could actually make a real difference beyond the classroom. I was really interested in the applied focus of this project because it directly linked to conservation work already taking place in the area.

The project has involved deploying baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs) to compare species abundance and diversity between natural rocky reef habitats and newly installed artificial reef cubes in Falmouth Harbour. My role has included everything from helping plan the survey design and completing the fieldwork to analysing the video footage in detail and report writing.

I’ve really enjoyed working on the project and particularly like the mix of fieldwork, where we were out on the water deploying the BRUVs and the video analysis, which has given me a much closer look at the species that are actually using these habitats.

MSc Marine Conservation student Natasha Bamford

Natasha Bamford on the beach at Wembury, near Plymouth, during her studies

It’s been challenging at times, especially when identifying fish that only appear for a few seconds but it’s also been really rewarding. I still have some statistical analysis to complete and I’m really looking forward to seeing what patterns emerge, especially in terms of how species are using the artificial reef cubes compared to the natural reefs.

I’ve really enjoyed seeing how science can directly inform management decisions. So once I finish my dissertation and the MSc, I’d like to build on this experience by working with organisations that combine research with practical conservation action. Long term, I’d love to continue working on projects that involve collaboration between researchers, local communities and conservation organisations.