500 fish to help restore EU fish stocks for future generations

Welsh Sea Champions Andrea Wijnaendts, Lauren Hughes and Cassie Bye are getting 500 people involved in the Paint-a-Fish campaign!

They have just set out on their mission to reach their target of 500 fish, and so far have already got 52 fish painted at Bangor University. As marine biology students and recent graduates, the team of three are giving talks, presenting the campaign at the end of lectures and have a stand at the university library. They are hoping soon to get schools in the area involved too.

The fish from the Paint-a-Fish campaign will be uploaded onto a website to build a “virtual fish stock” that will call on EU leaders to protect fish stocks and end overfishing.

Click here to find out more about the campaign and get in touch with your coordinator for support if you would like to promote the campaign.

Brighton Marathon 2013

Welsh Sea Champion Lizzie Hobbs from Conwy is running the Brighton Marathon in 2013 for MCS!

Lizzie is fundraising for MCS as she is a marine biology student concerned with marine conservation, is passionate about spreading awareness of marine issues and relishes a challenge!

In 2012, runners raised nearly £6,000 in total!

We are still looking for runners - why not join Lizzie and the team for the 30th Anniversary of the Marine Conservation Society!

Click here for an application form and more information, or get in touch with Tori Williams (fundraising@mcsuk.org)

Matt and Ollie Wilson completed the Brighton Marathon earlier this year.

Sea Champions full steam ahead!



The momentum behind the Sea Champions programme has been steadily building since the launch in March earlier this year, and the programme is now motoring along full speed ahead! 

 

Take a look at your achievements so far:

Bournemouth University Green Week

Thanks to all who pledged for 127 MCZs at Bournemouth University Green Week last week!

 

Sea Champions across the country are playing a huge role in pumping up the number of pledges for 127 MCZs.  Sea Champion Poppy Wall gave up two days to run a stand at her university encouraging hundreds of people to pledge for 127 MCZs.

 

Anyone can take part in this activity - distributing pledge cards at universities, at your work place, to parents at your local school or to friends and family. It couldn't be simpler. Just get in touch with your Volunteer Coordinator who can supply you with pledge cards.

 

You can even spread the word online by sharing this link: www.mcsuk.org/mpa

 

 

 

Basking sharks in Scotland!

Basking sharks have been spotted around the Isle of Arran throughout October. Thanks to all who have been reporting their sightings!

Our Basking Shark Watch programme has generated the largest basking shark sightings database in the world and has been instrumental in identifying surface feeding hotspots.

Sea Champions and other beach goers are our eyes and ears on the coast, reporting their wildlife sightings online.

Why not download and distribute our reporting poster and basking shark Code of Conduct?

For more information on basking sharks, download our basking shark 20 year report.

Basking sharks sighted around the Isle of Arran throughout October

 

 

 

 

Sea Champions highlight the plastic peril in our oceans at Whalefest 2012

Marine litter is an enormous problem. Take a walk along a beach after a storm and you'll get a good idea of what's floating around in our seas ...plastic bottles, flip flops, polystyrene boxes, fishing litter, the list is endless. Plastic pieces, plastic caps and lids and polystyrene pieces are the top 3 litter items found in our Beachwatch surveys.

Plastics in our seas don't just go away. They break down into smaller and smaller pieces. Now hundreds of billions of plastic particles are contaminating our seas.

Sea Champions ran workshops at Whalefest 2012 to highlight the impacts of plastics to marine mammals.  After a talk by Sea Champions Volunteer Coordinator Ed Santry, the volunteers encouraged the audience to think about ways to reduce litter, particularly plastics, in their homes, schools and work places.

Are you interested in becoming a Sea Champion? Find out more here about our volunteer scheme.

You can also take part in our microplastics campaign to help us push for a ban on microplastics in consumer products.



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!