NOTHING is being done to stop seahorse habitats at Studland being damaged more than a year after they were given protection, according to a Dorset conservationist.

Steve Trewhella, acting on behalf of the Seahorse Trust, said that although the creatures were protected on paper, nothing was being done in practice to preserve their habitat.

He said that the sea off South Beach was home to the largest seahorse colony in the UK and boats anchoring – up to 300 on a busy summer’s day – were causing massive damage to eelgrass, which is home to the marine animal.

The species was protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which prohibits damage to their habitat, in April 2008.

But Mr Trewhella said: “It’s paper protection like so many other things in the sea. We want to see practical protection put in at South Beach. The boats that anchor there cause massive damage to the habitat with dragging chains and so on.”

He added that Natural England and Crown Estates, which owns the land, had commissioned research into the problem, but that was unlikely to discover anything that was not already known.

But Natural England spokesman Gwilym Wren said that, as a government organisation, it had to ground any decisions in fact and that was the reason for the surveys.

He added that they had been commissioned with the help of the Seahorse Trust and Crown Estates and once the research was completed a decision on the best course of action could be made.

For more details on the trust, visit theseahorsetrust.co.uk.