Towards the end of 2018 the Marine Biology Section of La Société Guernesiaise kick-started Project Ormer!
So what is Project Ormer?
Project Ormer is a long-term project to research our island’s precious ormer population! It aims to discover aspects of ormer biology, ecology, and behaviour, as well gain information about the size of Guernsey’s ormer population.
Volunteers carry out surveys at low tide, carefully inspecting and turning rocks while searching for ormers, and taking a number of measurements, when an ormer is found.
Each ormer is photographed and tagged with a yellow label that has a unique code and fixed to the shell with water-activated glue. This means every individual may be identified if it is found again and allows us to monitor population changes and environmental preferences.
Finally the habitat was carefully returned to the condition it was found in, with rocks being photographed, measured and replaced and GPS coordinates recorded.
Sites are re-visited periodically so that ormers may be re-measured, contributing valuable data to our research.
The Marine Biology Section, is coordinating the project and has overseen three tagging events at Lihou intertidal zone since October 2018.
If you have any questions about the project, or would like to get involved, please email marinebiology@societe.org.gg
