Royal Marines Research Articles

Rise Up: Ecological and Social Responses to the Use of Advanced Mooring Systems to Recover Seagrass Habitat at Cawsand, England

UK recreational boating infrastructure in UK ports and harbors consistently coincides with Marine Protected Area designation. Under UK Marine Protected Area designations, vulnerable seabed habitats such as seagrass beds require protection and/or restoration. Mooring and anchoring activity has coincided with increasing concerns over the conservation status of the climate-buffering properties of seagrass beds in the literature and from empirical studies. Up until this study, there has yet to be a significant UK based trial of a number of modified moorings to see their impact on the reduction in pressure on vulnerable benthic habitats. In May 2019, we installed and tested five Advanced Mooring Systems (AMS) in Cawsand Bay, Plymouth Sound, UK. A further 10 such devices were installed in 2021 after the COVID 19 pandemic. The original five devices tested were ‘Stirling’ systems, whereby the rode is raised above the seabed by use of several submerged floats set at 1.5–2 m intervals along the chain, leading to a top mark that secures the vessel. Each AMS were attached to the seabed using helical screwpiles by commercial divers using a waterproof hydraulic wrench. The devices have held securely since May 2019, and monitoring of seagrass around these five moorings has occurred regularly (at approximately 6 monthly intervals) between May 2019 and May 2023. No seeding or transplantation to prime seagrass recovery has taken place around the base of the moorings during this period. Nevertheless, during the sixth dive survey in May 2023, 4 years after installation, a 212% increase in seagrass density was recorded within the zone previously abraded by the moorings and riser chains. Blade length of the longest seagrass shoots has also increased over the test period. Semi-structured interviews were held with participants in the trial from boat users, NGOs and government agencies to ascertain attitudes and responses to seagrass conservation and the use of AMS. Interaction with stakeholders are important to securing positive community buy-in to such interventions. We recommend that for small sailing craft and powerboats these systems provide a fit-for-purpose engineering and ecological solution to support the restoration of seagrass beds, but that such initiatives must be accompanied by significant understanding and interaction with local stakeholders.

Low ethnic diversity among university applicants in marine and environmental science in the United Kingdom

The planet faces a triple crisis from climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Like any country, the UK needs to attract the best available talent to become thought leaders to overcome these global challenges. Several Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects in the UK face challenges with attracting ethnic minority students. As part of a wider project on diversity in UK environmental/marine science, we analysed university applications amongst 180 environmental and 88 marine science degrees in the UK between 2019–2021. We found them to be the least diverse degree subjects for ethnic minority students and Asian students were less likely to be accepted than white students on environmental science degrees. A survey of UK marine science course leaders highlights the belief that these issues impact the pipeline of diversity from higher education institutions to marine/environmental science careers. In this paper, we discuss the impacts of these findings and develop a roadmap to change.

Outcomes of UK military personnel treated with ice cold water immersion for exertional heat stroke

IntroductionDespite mitigation efforts, exertional heat stroke (EHS) is known to occur in military personnel during training and operations. It has significant potential to cause preventable morbidity and mortality. International consensus...

Henry Gustave Hiller (1864–1946): British stained glass artist, naturalist and illustrator

Henry Gustave Hiller was born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, England, in 1864. He worked in Liverpool as a stained glass artist, but was also a keen microscopist and an amateur entomologist and arachnologist, with a particular interest in the life histories of spiders. He was an active member of Liverpool’s natural history societies in his leisure time where he combined his passion for natural history with his artistic talent. His arachnology and entomological illustrations of Argyroneta aquatica, Chironomidae and Culicidae are part of the zoology collections of National Museums Liverpool’s World Museum. In retirement, he lived at Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales, where he studied and illustrated the reproductive structures of marine algae. The watercolour sketches of the British marine algae he prepared are preserved in the collections of National Museums Liverpool’s World Museum herbarium (LIV) along with the dried specimens of seaweeds that he collected.

Monitoring of non-indigenous marine species for legislative and policy goals in the UK

Globally, the ecological and socio-economic impacts of non-indigenous species (NIS) are increasingly recognised, prompting the development of international policies and legislation that aim to reduce these impacts. Monitoring programmes are required to assess compliance with legislation and progress towards management targets. However, monitoring programmes often need to fulfil the requirements of several legislative drivers, as well as adapt to changing political circumstances and environmental targets, and thereby face design and implementation challenges. In this paper, we summarise the current legislative drivers for monitoring of non-indigenous marine species and provide a review of existing monitoring in UK waters. This paper also discusses aspirations for NIS monitoring, outlines progress, and provides recommendations to address remaining gaps. While the focus is on the drivers for NIS monitoring in UK marine waters, the key messages, in particular recommendations for future improvements, are applicable on a global scale.

Identifying the risk factors associated with food insecurity in the UK veteran population: a nationwide survey.

There has been limited focus placed on exploring food insecurity within the UK-ex-Armed Forces population. The present study aims to build on initial work by investigating the prevalence and associated factors of food insecurity within UK veterans and their families and their current health status. 881 veterans (or a family member) who previously served in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Army and the Royal Air Force completed an online survey to explore health status, food insecurity and receipt of benefits. In total, 16.9% of survey respondents were part of food-insecure households, with 12% of these also experiencing some element of hunger. Working age, non-officer rank at the time of service discharge, not being married, living in rented accommodation, having at least one medical condition and in receipt of other benefits were significant risk factors associated with food insecurity. Understanding the specific risk factors associated with food insecurity is vital to develop personalised interventions and policies, such as income support programmes and affordable housing initiatives. However, more work is needed to further explore the factors associated with food insecurity, particularly in the long term.

Holding and rupture: Describing post-traumatic stress among former UK Army and Royal Marine personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former UK military personnel who were previously deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in combat roles have exhibited elevated levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) compared to other groups. The present qualitative analyses used semi-structured interviews and a framework analysis to compare the experiences of symptomatic (N=10) and asymptomatic (N=7) former Army and Royal Marine personnel who were exposed to combat. Participants were drawn from a large UK military health and wellbeing cohort study and were sampled based upon probable PTSD status using scores from the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). All symptomatic participants attributed the development of post-traumatic stress to deployment events, with one additionally ascribing symptoms to childhood events. Among the participants, post-traumatic stress was temporarily buffered, and held at bay, by the holding function of various military structures, including the military collective; cultural and ethical frameworks that helped to organise traumatic experiences; an operational necessity for psychological compartmentalisation and even the distraction of deployment itself. Leaving the military appeared to elicit a global rupture of these supports. As a result, the military-to-civilian transition led to an intensification of post-traumatic stress, including deployment-related memories, among the symptomatic participants. In contrast, asymptomatic participants tended to report continuity of their holding structures across the lifespan, especially across the military-to-civilian transition. The onset and maintenance of post-traumatic stress may thus be explained by an interplay between the capacity of holding structures and the magnitude of lifetime rupture. Overall, findings might provide an explanation for the widening discrepancies between those with enduring post-traumatic stress and those without and further research is required to determine the fit of our findings for other groups and contexts. This approach further illustrates the need to situate individual experiences of post-traumatic stress in wider structural, ecological, cultural and ethical contexts.

Dizziness Directly Influences Postconcussion Symptoms and Is Predictive of Poorer Mental Health in UK Military Personnel: A Retrospective Analysis.

To investigate the contribution of dizziness to postconcussion symptoms, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) service, Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Stanford Hall. Two hundred eighty-three UK military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Airforce, Royal Marines, and British Army. A retrospective analysis of data from the Ministry of Defence medical records database. Sixteen-item Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, The Dizziness Handicap Inventory. Injuries from sports or falls were the most common mechanism of mTBI, accounting for 23%, respectively. Chi-square analysis indicated that individuals with dizziness and postconcussion symptoms (PCS) had greater severity of PCS, depression, and anxiety than those with PCS alone. Mediation analysis showed dizziness directly and independently influenced the severity of PCS, despite the indirect effects of mediating depression and anxiety symptoms. Comorbid dizziness and PCS were predictive of poorer mental health compared with PCS alone. In addition, dizziness directly influenced the severity of PCS irrespective of the indirect effects of mental health symptoms. These observations suggest that treating dizziness with vestibular rehabilitation may improve PCS and mental health.

Analysis of the existing regulations on certification and training of autonomous vessels operators

The development of autonomous navigation has reached a stage where the issue of creating a system for training specialists in the field of autonomous ship management and developing a regulatory framework that defines the requirements for methodological, personnel and logistical support for such training arises. A brief analysis of the available bibliographic sources on the topic of training operators of autonomous vessels is presented. The requirements of the procedures for the training and certification of autonomous ships operators contained in three regulatory documents published to date such as Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships. Principles and Code of Practice of the British Marine Industry Association, Regulations for the Classification of Offshore Autonomous and Remotely Operated Surface Vessels of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and Norwegian Register Standard are considered. A list of basic competencies necessary for the management of autonomous vessels has been formed. A significant part of the knowledge, skills and abilities that make up these competencies are acquired at the stage of training under programs for obtaining a professional seafarer diploma at the management level. The competencies of the autonomous vessel operator are formed on the basis of maritime competencies by adding additional knowledge, skills and abilities that reflect the specifics of the serviced autonomous vessels, equipment and apparatus used in a particular remote control center and navigation conditions in the serviced area. Additional competencies of the operator are largely related to other specialties (IT specialists, electromechanics, radio specialists). In the future, within the framework of the international regulation carried out by the IMO, in the training of autonomous ships operators, the approach underlying the training of ship traffic control systems operators can be used.

There Is a Lot More to Transplantation Surgery Than the Surgery Itself: The "Other" Sir Peter John Morris, AC, FRS.

There Is a Lot More to Transplantation Surgery Than the Surgery Itself: The "Other" Sir Peter John Morris, AC, FRS.

Two World Views? How Regular and Reserve Royal Marines Perceive Each Other

Effective integration of the Regular and Reserve Armed Forces is essential to operational effectiveness, but evidence suggests that this remains problematic. Past research has focused on the professional values of Regulars and the perceptions that this group holds about Reservists. In this study, we argue that it is necessary to consider the perceptions of both Regulars and Reservists to truly understand the barriers to integration between these elements of Defence. This study investigates what Regular and Reserve Royal Marines see as the important constructs related to each group, through the use of repertory grid technique with 18 Regulars and 16 Reservists. Not only did the Regulars and Reservists in this study see different constructs as important, they also ascribed different constructs to each group. These differences are potentially problematic when aiming to integrate the Regular and Reserve Armed Forces.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Benefit of Abrasion and Laceration Swabs in Identification of Panton-Valentine Leucocidin (PVL)-Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Colonisation in Military Personnel.

Background Outbreaks of Panton-Valentine Leucocidin (PVL)-producing methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are a recurrent challenge for the Royal Marines at the Commando Training Centre (CTCRM). The intensity of commando training, its impact on skin integrity, and persistent colonisation reservoirs within the training centre have thwarted attempts to prevent these outbreaks. Aim To present an outbreak of PVL-producing MRSA SSTIs at a military training centre, demonstrating the benefit of additional abrasion and laceration swabs on the identification of colonised personnel and showing the effectiveness of a 10-day decolonisation regime. Method Following the identification of the outbreak of PVL-producing MRSA, all 36 members of the Recruit Troop underwent nasal MRSA screening to identify MRSA carriers. The screening was repeated on day 16 after completing an enhanced 10-day decolonisation regime. A third screening was conducted on the 110th day after a second peak of infection was identified. Various infection control measures, such as enhanced cleaning, restriction of movement and adjustments to the military training serials, were introduced to prevent further spread through the training centre. Results In this outbreak, two-thirds (eighteen) of the Recruit Troop suffered MRSA-PVL skin infections requiring antibiotic therapy and three required hospital admission for surgical management of their abscesses. The outbreak lasted 130 days, with two spikes in infections 10 weeks apart. The outbreak was successfully confined to one troop. Conclusion With concerns about low identification rates of carriers using nasal screening for MRSA, in this outbreak, we improved the identification of asymptomatic carriage with the simple step of additional culture swabs for all cuts and abrasions. Improved identification of colonised recruits, along with an enhanced decolonisation regime and rigid infection control practices, prevented the further spread of the clone through the training centre. In a population with constant ongoing skin trauma, such as the military, contact sport athletes and iIV drug users, our results show that a culture of suitable abrasions/lacerations will improve the identification of MRSA colonisation compared with nasal swabs alone. Despite ongoing skin trauma and the logistical difficulties in delivering effective decolonisation during military training, decolonisation was successful in 79% of recruits after one decolonisation and 87% after the second 10-day decolonisation.

Cumulative effects of offshore renewables: From pragmatic policies to holistic marine spatial planning tools

To alleviate climate change consequences, the UK government is pioneering offshore renewable energy developments at an ever-increasing pace. The North Sea is a dynamic ecosystem with strong bottom-up/top-down natural and anthropogenic drivers facing rapid climate change impacts. To ensure the compatibility of such large-scale developments with nature conservation obligations, regulatory processes set out that all effects need to be evaluated through cumulative impact assessments (CIA). However, by excluding climate change impacts and bottom-up effects of renewable developments, the CIA lacks spatio-temporal baselines linking oceanic ecosystem indicators to population dynamics, leading to uncertain predictions at population levels. CIA is currently required in Europe under the Strategic Environmental Assessment and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), suggesting that these two policy areas should be more closely aligned. This study presents an overview of the current CIA policy framework, enabling an ecosystem-based approach linking lower ecosystem components to top-predator populations using the UK as a case study. At the UK level, CIA requirements mirror the EU ones under the Marine and Coastal Access Act, the UK Marine Policy Statement, and the UK National Policy Statement. Firstly, we show how CIA and MSFD requirements are integrated into the UK licensing and maritime planning frameworks. Secondly, we provide policy pathways embedding the MSFD as a baseline for CIAs with European and UK regulations. Thirdly, we propose a framework encompassing a shared monitoring effort, an ecosystem modelling approach connected with two existing online databases supported with funds from Contracts for Difference. This integrated approach will enable a holistic and pragmatic ecosystem-based framework for more accurate and rapid methods for producing CIAs for offshore renewable energy developments.

Preventing marine wildlife crime: An evaluation of legal protection and enforcement perspectives

IntroductionDespite growing environmental awareness and the efforts of a variety of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to influence the wildlife protection policy agenda, wildlife laws remain outside the remit of mainstream criminal justice. Adopting a green criminological perspective, this article considers wildlife crime in respect of threats to UK marine wildlife. It examines the UK’s legal and enforcement framework and the scope and nature of both marine wildlife crime and harms to marine wildlife. Its core question is to consider the extent to which the UK’s wildlife law approach provides for effective wildlife protection and is adequate to deal with the threats facing marine wildlife.MethodsThe research is a mixed methods study that considers the relevant law, case law and reporting of wildlife crimes as well as the enforcement approach to marine wildlife crime. The article’s methodological approach is socio-legal in nature commencing with a review of the relevant literature on threats to marine wildlife and incorporating analysis of the current law and case law available via the legal databases BAILII and Westlaw. The study also conducted an analysis of licences for disturbance of marine wildlife via an examination of the open access case management database managed by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) the main enforcement body for marine wildlife incidents in the UK.ResultsThe research identifies that while in principle the UK has robust legal protection for marine wildlife, in practice, policy allows exploitation and disturbance of marine wildlife that causes harm to individual animals and is detrimental to efforts to conserve marine wildlife and marine ecosystems.DiscussionThis research concludes that in the UK, potentially strong legislation existing on paper is arguably not backed by an effective enforcement regime. The remote nature of marine wildlife incidents, competition between marine wildlife and leisure and commercial activities and the very wording of legislation all create enforcement challenges. This article argues for marine wildlife crime to be integrated into mainstream crime policy linked to other forms of offending and criminal justice policy, rather than being largely seen as a purely environmental issue and a ‘fringe’ area of policing.

Effect of sex and combat employment on musculoskeletal injuries and medical downgrading in trained military personnel: an observational cohort study

IntroductionFollowing the opening of all combat roles to women across the UK Armed Forces, there is a requirement to understand the risk of injury to these female personnel. Women injure...

Challenger Society for Marine Science: Increasing Opportunity Through an Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Working Group

The Challenger Society for Marine Science (CSMS) is the learned society for marine scientists based in the United Kingdom, with a membership of over 470 people from >100 institutions, across all academic career stages. Members of the CSMS have been interested in improving the representation of a diverse range of identities in UK marine science, largely driven by their own experiences of inequity in the discipline, such as the challenges faced by women (Hendry et al., 2020). The structural exclusion of individuals by race, sex, ethnicity, social class, disability, sexuality, and the compound sum of these factors can result in a lack of diversity during recruitment and poor retention. Since 2021, CSMS has formed the first UK-wide equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) working group for marine scientists, with the aim of coordinating action to address the causes of exclusion and to improve representation across the discipline. The group of 25 volunteers meets each month to discuss a topical agenda, and the chair of the working group sits on the council of CSMS, providing EDIA input from the working group on society-wide strategic decisions.

Evaluation of a marine mammal status and trends contaminants indicator for European waters

Marine mammals are vulnerable to the bioaccumulation, biomagnification and lactational transfer of specific types of pollutants, such as industrial polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), due to their long-life spans, feeding at a high trophic level and unique fat stores that can serve as depots for these lipophilic contaminants. Currently, European countries are developing indicators for monitoring pollutants in the marine environment and assessing the state of biodiversity, requirements under both Regional Seas Conventions and European legislation. As sentinel species for marine ecosystem and human health, marine mammals can be employed to assess bioaccumulated contaminants otherwise below current analytical detection limits in water and lower trophic level marine biota. To aid the development of Regional Seas marine mammal contaminants indicators, as well as Member States obligations under descriptor 8 of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the current study aims to further develop appropriate methodological standards using data collected by the established UK marine mammal pollutant monitoring programme (1990 to 2017) to assess the trends and status of PCBs in harbour porpoises. Within this case study, temporal trends of PCB blubber concentration in juvenile harbour porpoises were analysed using multiple linear regression models and toxicity thresholds for the onset of physiological (reproductive and immunological) endpoints were applied to all sex-maturity groups. Mean PCB blubber concentrations were observed to decline in all harbour porpoise Assessment Units and OSPAR Assessment Areas in UK waters. However, a high proportion of animals were exposed to concentrations deemed to be a toxicological threat, though the relative proportion declined in most Assessment Units/Areas over the last 10 years of the assessment. Recommendations were made for improving the quality of the assessment going forward, including detailing monitoring requirements for the successful implementation of such an indicator.

British Colonial Marine Transport Services in the Niger-Benue Confluence Area of Nigeria, 1914–1918

This paper focuses on the British marine transport services in the Niger-Benue confluence area of Nigeria during the First World War. It posits that the flow of the Benue River through the Northern Nigeria/Cameroon border was a major way through which the British war resources were conveyed from the Niger-Benue confluence area to the battlefronts against the German Cameroon. The paper claims that the British authorities used lies as strategy by painting the Germans as land grabbers to get the locals’ commitment and support during the war at the expense of marine transport services. It reveals that the colonial authorities’ deployment of marine personnel and facilities in the prosecution of the war almost paralysed marine transport services in the area and beyond. The Marine Department (MD), the colonial authority that provided marine services on the waterways, lost 40 British marine officers, 4000 Nigerian personnel and had 12 of its vessels destroyed in the war. The deployment, as discovered, made the MD to neglect its primary responsibilities of maintaining and providing marine transport services in the Niger-Benue confluence area in particular, and Nigeria in general. The development affected nearly every other part of colonial Nigeria economically as the utilisation of Niger-Benue Rivers (which formed the major navigable trading routes) for the war created shortages of imports and scarcity of shipping resources. A wide range of sources from primary to textual analyses in extant literature are used to explain how marine transport in the confluence area fared during the First World War.

Pathways towards integrated cross-border marine spatial planning (MSP): insights from Germany, Poland and the island of Ireland

ABSTRACT Marine Spatial Planning is labelled as ‘an idea whose time has come’ based on its applicability to address spatial conflicts and deliver sustainable use. Legislation such as the EU MSP Directive 2014/89/EU and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 requires that neighbouring marine spatial plans are coherent and coordinated to address cross-border issues. However, the implementation of MSP in cross-border areas is complex due to different administrative processes, fiscal and legislative procedures. This study argues that cross-border MSP is challenging in areas that are faced with historically contested borders which limit effective delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Two contested case study regions: Germany, Poland and the island of Ireland are compared. To help understand contemporary issues, a bespoke theoretical evaluative framework, the ‘Wheel of Integration and Adaptation’ is used to identify the challenges of cross-border MSP. An in-depth review of planning documents, policies, legislation was undertaken alongside interviews. This demonstrated that in contested areas, cross-border MSP must contend with the following challenges: ‘inter alia’ geographical peripheries syndrome, schema overload, limited transparency and blue justice, diplomatic consultation processes and differences in planning philosophies. This paper concludes by presenting five interventions as steps toward advancing cross-border MSP.

GRAVITATIONAL CONUNDRUM: CONFUSING CLOCK-RATE MEASUREMENTS ON THE 'FIRST FLEET’ FROM ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA

Voyages of exploration often included astronomers among their crew to aid with maritime navigation. William Dawes, a British Marine who had been trained in practical astronomy, was assigned to the 'First Fleet’, a convoy of eleven ships that left England in May 1787 bound for Botany Bay (Sydney, Australia). Dawes was also expected to take measurements of the local gravitational acceleration, g, at any port of call by measuring the daily rate by which his Shelton pendulum clock differed from that at Greenwich, its calibration location. Although Dawes and Nevil Maskelyne, Britain’s fifth Astronomer Royal, had planned to obtain clock-rate measurements in the Canary Islands, San Sebastian (Rio de Janeiro) and Table Bay, Captain Arthur Phillip, Commander of the First Fleet, only allowed Dawes to disembark the clock in Rio de Janeiro. Therefore, we have just one set of clock-rate measurements from the voyage, in addition to land-based measurements obtained in New South Wales. If gravity was the dominant factor affecting the clock’s changing rate, Dawes’ measurement of –48.067 sec per (sidereal) day obtained in Rio de Janeiro implies a local gravitational acceleration, <italic>g</italic> = 9.7946 m sec^–2. On the other hand, if we adopt the modern value, <italic>g</italic> = 9.7878 m sec^–2, the implied daily decay rate is almost exactly 30 sec greater than Dawes’ clock-rate determination, a difference that is well in excess of the prevailing uncertainties. This suggests that the pendulum’s regulator nut may have been offset by a full turn, thus implying that our assumptions regarding the pendulum length may have to be revisited.