Sea Champions get into the Christmas Spirit!

Sea Champions Bryn Edwards, Katie Macer-Wright and Anelma Roberts got into the Christmas spirit at the weekend at the Christmas Fair in Ross-on-Wye, whilst Scottish Sea Champions braved the cold at the Christmas Fair in Edinburgh.

Sea Champions and MCS staff were delighted to meet so many friends of MCS, particularly the Christmas turkey who took part in Litter-Pick-Panic, the angel and Christmas presents that pledged for 127 Marine Conservation Zones, and the snowman and Christmas pudding who expressed real interest in joining MCS.

Sea Champions are planning to attend many more Christmas fairs throughout December, get in touch with your Volunteer Coordinator if you'd like to help out or attend a fair near you.

Turkeys, angels and Christmas puddings support MCS at the Christmas Fair in Ross-on-Wye!

We all live in a yellow submarine... Dive 2012

The Sea Champions team and MCS staff had a fantastic weekend at Dive 2012. Not only did they welcome on board a record breaking 87 new members, 90 people pledged their support for Marine Protected Areas. You can show your support for marine protection too by pledging online here.

This years dive show was special because we had Bernard Eaton, Founder and Vice President of the Marine Conservation Society in our thoughts. Diver magazine raised an amazing £646.55 for us in his memory.



Explorer and presenter of BBC'S Oceans series, Paul Rose, paid a visit to our yellow submarine!

The South Devon Crab Festival - back, bigger and better than ever before!

The Sea Champions team were joined by our Fisheries Program Manager Jim Masters at the weekend for the South Devon Crab Festival!

The team took part in this fantastic week of fun crabby events dedicated to the celebration of South Devon Brown Crab, one of the regions finest natural resources which is now recommended if taken from the South Devon Inshore Potting Agreement Area.

From street parties to crab throwing competitions (...no crabs hurt!) the week of activities centered around learning about their habitats and the importance of sustainability in fishing for them.

It was a perfect opportunity for the Sea Champions team to promote www.fishonline.org and distribute our Pocket Good Fish Guides as well as gather pledges for Marine Conservation Zones in England.

Clare, one of the event organisers pledging for Marine Conservation Zones at the South Devon Crab Festival

Tallulah laid how many eggs?!

Tallulah, our lifesize inflatable leatherback turtle, is becoming rather a celebrity! She is travelling far and wide accompanying our Sea Champions at events all over the country.

 She's a great talking point to introduce our turtle projects, and here’s a great idea to interact with people at your MCS stand - a competition to guess how many eggs Tallulah laid!

At 50p a go, not only did people learn a little about turtles, but £32 was raised at the recent Bristol Festival of Nature. Every penny counts to help save our seas!

The lucky winner was Daniel Jones from Wiltshire, who guessed just 3 eggs away from the overall total and won an Adopt-a-Turtle gift.

To run this competition at your event, all you need is a box full of ping pong balls which look very much like turtle eggs!

We are extInked!

Three years ago, a hundred volunteers became ambassadors for Britain’s threatened species. 

Ultimate Holding Company, a British Art Collective offered 100 tattoos of endangered species to people committed to preserving them. The project, called extInked, is raising awareness of endangered species since tattoos usually make for great conversation.  From deep sea shrimp and native oyster to leatherback turtles and basking shark, many people became ambassadors for threatened marine species.

Scottish Sea Champions went along to the exhibition to celebrate our amazing wildlife and to raise awareness of biodiversity loss.

You can find out how sea horses and other species are benefiting from this unique arts and ecology project by heading down to the “We are extInked” exhibition which is running in the Gateway Gallery, at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh from 12 May to 29 July 2012.  Click here for more info!

The tattoos were done by the UK studio, Ink Vs Steel. Check out more pics of Ext Inked tattoos on their Facebook page or at www.extinked.org.uk.

Are there any events coming up in your area that it might be worth attending?  Then get in touch with your Sea Champions Volunteer Coordinator!

Short snouted seahorse. Photograph by Thomas Bing, at Ultimate Holding Company.