The Launch Of The Menai Strait Partnership Forum
On the 23rd of March we launched our first conference for the Menai Strait Partnership Forum. The bilingual event highlighted some of the issues facing the Menai Strait and more importantly how we can come together as a community to build solutions.
Dr Lewis Le Vay discusses water quality issues in the Strait.
The event was held at Marine Centre Wales in Menai Bridge and was almost at total capacity, with around 60 people attending from all aspects of the community. We had a variety of guest speakers, including Alan Winstone (MSFOMA), Rebekah Booth (Sea Zoo), Sian Sykes (Psyched Paddleboarding), Laura Owen Sanderson (NWRT), Dr. Lewis Le Vay (Marine Centre Wales), James Wilson (Bwyd Mor) in addition to local AM Rhun ap Iorwerth who introduced the event.
The event highlighted the importance of the Menai Strait to the community and why it should be protected. A perfect storm of Brexit legislation, climate change ( more intense downpours/ droughts), litter and plastic pollution, CSO sewage release, and increased invasives from climate change. A key takeaway was to improve the water quality entering the Menai Strait from the 13 surrounding rivers.
NWRT CEO Laura discussed the 13 rivers acting as vectors for pollution.
As Dr. Lewis Le Vay and James Wilson outlined, the Menai Strait water quality is already reasonably good. Most mussel zones are considered B water quality, with one zone tagged as a seasonal A. With the UK departing the EU, we can no longer sell shellfish with a water quality B. For economic resilience, there is a need to elevate the remaining sites to a water quality class A.
Environmentalist and local business owner Sian Sykes discusses litter and plastic pollution.
The session ended with a panel hosted by our community engagement officer Oisin. The community discussed areas they would like to focus on moving forward. In the next phase of this project we will be working with the community to build long term solutions to tackle the issues facing the Menai Strait.
Head over to our youtube channel to watch a recording of the Menai Strait forum and sign up to our newsletter below to be kept up to date with the project as it progresses:-