Campaigners hoping to save a unique area of aquatic wildlife off Falmouth have joined two environmental charities to deliver thousands of letters to the UK's marine licensing body.

Falmouth based campaigners joined representatives of the Marine Conservation Society and Friends of the Earth to deliver more than 6,550 letters to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in Hayle on Thursday.

They said they were there to remind the licensing body of the ever-growing level of public concern around plans to dredge in the Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and to urge it to respond by doing all it can to safeguard what they call a special underwater beauty-spot.

The Marine Conservation Society and Friends of the Earth teamed up to launch the #SaveFalBay campaign back in September, when the MMO was conducting a scientific assessment to inform “pre-application advice” for Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (FHC). They had been asked to give the FHC advice regarding the commissioners’ continued hopes to dredge a channel through the Fal and Helford SAC.

Over the last few months, concerned individuals have written to the MMO to urge them to consider new evidence produced by local scientist Dr Miles Hoskin during their assessment. This report highlights what the campaigners say are critical flaws in the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners’ plans. Despite several months passing since the launch of the campaign, these letters have not yet been met with a public response by the MMO, and the licensing body has remained silent as to whether they are taking Dr Hoskin’s peer-reviewed report into account at this time.

Emily Williams, campaign officer for the Marine Conservation Society, said: “The harbour commissioners’ hopes to dredge in the Carrick Roads section of this SAC has been a dark cloud hanging over Falmouth and those who desperately care for our seas for years.

“As a student in Falmouth during the period when the port first applied to undertake these activities, I remember the level of concern this generated amongst the local community. Seven years on, isn’t it about time the MMO acknowledged that these plans are incompatible with the protection of this precious site? The Fal and Helford SAC is home to absolutely incredible animals and plants that cannot be replaced.”

The Fal and Helford SAC contains maerl, a rocky seaweed habitat which looks similar to pink coral, takes thousands of years to grow and is extremely important for young fish and shellfish.

According to Dr Miles Hoskin’s research, if these plans were to go ahead, live maerl would be destroyed.

However in their most recent application to the MMO, the commissioners claim to have shown that they can dredge in a way that preserves most of the dead maerl matrix which is important for marine life.