Historic vote for radical reform of Common Fisheries Policy

Together we made history!

Today, an overwhelming majority of MEPs just agreed to end overfishing, with 502 - 137 votes in favour for the restoration of fish stocks by 2020.

Debbie Crockard, MCS Fisheries Policy Officer, who attended the Plenary vote said:

“The overwhelming support shown by the Parliament for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) sends a clear message. We hope that the Council will look to match this ambition, and deliver a reformed CFP that delivers a sustainable and prosperous future for not only our fish stocks, but the fishermen and communities who rely on them.”

 

A huge thank you to all Sea Champions who to took part in the Paint-a-Fish campaign - all over the UK, Sea Champions have been encouraging all ages to "Paint-a-Fish" in schools, at events and on the street, even from the comfort of their own homes via social media, adding to an urgent message being sent to Europe’s key decision makers.

Together, we all helped win some of today's votes, giving the Parliament a massive mandate for change in its negotiations with the European Council to agree the final reforms that can save our oceans.

Over 180,000 people sent messages to MEPs before the vote took place, and Sea Champions sure helped contribute to this massive figure.

Read more about the Common Fisheries Policy Reform here.

  



 

Paint-a-Fish in action at the Looe Monkey Festival

Busy with beach art at St. Bees!

Beach lovers at St. Bees created a sand menagerie of marine wildlife to highlight just how amazing our seas are!

Sea Champion and MCS Trustee Kay Foster manned an MCS stand at the Wildlife Trust's Beached Art event to help spread the message about marine conservation.

From basking sharks, starfish, and minke whales to cuttlefish and turtle hatchlings, there were some truely amazing entries into the beach art competition. 

Kay focused on promoting our turtle projects by helping children make turtle hatchlings out of old egg boxes!  Hands on activities like this are a great way to engage familes allowing you to talk about what's out there and what anyone can do to help protect it. 

If you'd like to run this activity at an event near you, download our activity sheet.  



Turtle hatchlings on the beach at St. Bees!

Food for Thought!

Teaching kids about sustainable seafood 

Teaching hundreds of kids about sustainable seafood may seem like quite a daunting task, but it is so important they understand the basics of overfishing.

Welsh Projects Officer Dr. Lou Luddington and Welsh Sea Champions Volunteer Coordinator Rebecca O’Dowd came up with a great activity to run at the ‘Food for Thought!’ event in Bridgend.

Using the basics of the game tag, they had one team of kids play the role of fishermen whilst the other team pretended to be fish – when they increased the number of fishermen, you guessed it, the number of fish decreased much more quickly!

They introduced the concept of sustainability and different fishing methods by asking the kids to think about which fishing methods might reduce the number of fish quicker than others, using pole and line and net fishing as examples.

“Over 500 children attended the event. Although of primary school age, they were really clued up about overfishing, and were keen to know what sort of questions they should ask when they eat fish in restaurants” explained Rebecca.

“Food for Thought” was organised by Bridgend County Borough Council and Bridgend Environment Educational and Sustainability Partnership.

A Cry for our Oceans

New Sea Champion holds art installation to raise awareness on the impacts beach litter poses to marine life

We have developed into a throwaway society. Plastics are lightweight, inexpensive and durable and can be fashioned into just about anything. We love plastic stuff, so why is it a problem? In short, plastic isn't the issue, it's the way we use it that has created the problem. A material that lasts forever has been cast in the role of a throwaway commodity and as a result is accumulating in the environment.

Sea Champion Tania Long from Eastbourne, has been hard at work cleaning beaches in the south east of England. Not only is she ridding these areas of plastics and other man made debris, she has used her finds to create a whimsical underwater world in an educational art installation at the Leaf Hall Arts Festival.

Tania has turned plastic bags, tubes and plastic bottles into fish, jellyfish, sea fans, sponges and even a mermaid!  Children will have the opportunity to make their own fun fish and sea critters in a recycled art workshop where they can share ideas on how we can help our oceans.

The event will be running between 21st July 2012 - 5th August 2012 at Leaf Hall in Eastbourne. Visit www.leafhall.co.uk for more information. 

Tania's whimsical underwater world!

 

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!

Oceans on a Plate!

Sea Champions Tammy Palmer and Clare Johnson attended the World Oceans Day event at Looe Monkey Sanctuary where they ran all sorts of kids activities to celebrate our oceans.  From 'Ocean's on a Plate' to marine quizzes, the kids were entertained whilst parents had the change to pledge for marine protection in our UK seas.

Sea Champion Tammy Palmer running kids activities for World Oceans Day!

"Run for the Reef"

Pupils at Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh raised an amazing £4,000 for the Marine Conservation Society during their sponsored "Run for the Reef"!

After singing a few hymns in the school assembly for "Environment Day", Sea Champions Volunteer Coordinator Matt Barnes thanked the pupils and talked about the threats of pollution to Scotland's amazing wildlife and how the gratefully received funds will contribute to the campaign for clean seas and beaches.

Pupils from Mary Erskine School running for the reef!

Litter Pick Panic!

Brand new litter awareness activity ran by south west Sea Champions!

Sea Champions Tammy Palmer and Clare Johnson had lots of fun with the new educational game “Litter-Pick Panic!” It’s a great way to educate kids about litter, by recreating the Big-Beach Clean-up in a single paddling pool! All you need to make your beach is a paddling pool, some sand, a few pebbles and some clean and varied rubbish (...but please don’t remove these from a real beach!). After explaining the threats litter poses to marine wildlife, particularly plastics, give the kids 60 seconds to clear the rubbish, after which you can look at the types of rubbish and where they might have come from.

Are you thinking of manning your own MCS stand at an event? Why not run a “Litter-Pick Panic!" activity to attract people to your stand. Get in touch with your Volunteer Coordinator for support.

Any more ideas for children's activities to highlight our key themes of marine protection, sustainable fisheries and clean seas and beaches? Comment below to share your ideas with Sea Champions across the nation!

"Litter-Pick Panic" in action!