Christmas shoppers beware!

Microplastics in our beauty products = microplastics in our sea

It seems unbelievable, but it's true: many personal care products like scrubs and peels now contain plastic particles. So, every time we exfoliate or peel off those dead cells, we may be doing our bodies some good, but we're giving our seas anything but a make-over. As the products are rinsed off, they go down the drain and that means we are flushing plastic into our seas where it contributes to the 'plastic soup' problem.

When you’re out Christmas shopping or hitting the January sales, check the list of ingredients on the label. Plastics can appear as: Polyethylene / Polythene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or Polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Message from Dr. Sue Kinsey, MCS Pollution Policy Officer: "It's incredible how many everyday products contain micro plastic beads. These find their way through our sewers and into our seas where they are easily eaten by all sorts of marine animals. Help us stop the practice of putting these microplastics in products by signing the petition and checking out products at home."

Sea Champions across the UK are going through their bathroom cabinets and letting us know which products contain microplastics so we can urge companies to “beat the microbead” and use environmentally friendly alternatives. Anise seeds, sand, salt or coconut were all used before plastic particles. If you'd like to take part too you can email your findings to Dr. Kinsey.

MCS and the North Sea Foundation want to get an EU ban on micro plastics in consumer products. Help by signing and sharing the petition:

 "Scrub Plastic Free!” www.noordzee.nl/microplastics-petitie/petitie

You can also download additional information on the issues associated with microplastics.

 With your help we can beat the microbead!

 

Simply by washing your face you could be adding the the "plastic soup" problem in our seas.

 

Lancashire MCS Local Group create marine display

Inspiring the general public about our amazing marine life is a difficult task when people can’t get beneath the waves to see the beauty of these precious ecosystems. The Lancashire MCS Local Group however are doing just that. Images and sea-life survey information from their Seasearch dives around Calve Island, Tobermory Bay have been made into a display at the Mull Visitor Centre! The group hopes this will encourage people to take more interest in the wildlife around our coasts. Click on the links to find out more about Seasearch, and the Lancashire MCS Local Group.  

Marine display at the Mull Visitor Centre created by the Lancashire MCS Local Group.

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!

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!

Inspiring the next generation!

Mini eco warrior chosen to front publicity campaign to encourage more people to pick up litter 

 

Eight year old Jack Bowes who attends Southdown Junior School in Sussex saw his school get overrun by giant inflatable marine creatures thanks to MCS and their school workshop. Here, Jack learned all about the impacts of marine litter to these creatures and was so inspired that he has taken to cleaning up the local beach himself.

He cleared 3 sacks of litter from the beach single handedly, and found quite a few unusual items including an assortment of footwear! Flipflops, shoes, socks, gloves, bottles, cans, fishing litter... all manner of things were collected. But Jack's work is not finished, he plans to return with classmates to help him clear the rest of the litter as soon as possible.

Not only was Jack moved by the workshop, he is an inspiration to others too. As a result of his hard work, he has been chosen to be the face of the Planet Whales Campaign on the lead up to Whalefest 2012 this weekend.

Inspiring the next generation is what the Cool Seas Roadshow is all about, and Sea Champions can really help by promoting the roadshow with primary schools in your area. Email Coolseasroadshow@mcsuk.org for more information. 

Mini eco warrior Jack cleans up Newhaven beach

 

Bexhill Beach Clean!

Family beach clean and education morning a great success

Sea Champions in South and South East England got to grips with a beach clean with the Bexhill Environmental Group (BEG) and Sussex Wildlife Trust - over sixty adults and children were there for the family event making it a great opportunity to teach the next generation all about the problems associated with beach litter.

BEG chairman, Michael Bernard, said, “Our event was a tremendous success and we are absolutely delighted. It was great to see so many children. The Raksha Cubs and pupils from St Richard’s were there in numbers and really enjoyed the whole thing.

If you'd like to get involved in a beach clean in your area this autumn, or even become a Beachwatch Organiser yourself, click here for more information.

 

 



Sea Champion Volunteer Coordinator Ed talks about the impacts of beach litter 

 

Beachwatch goes subaqua!

SCUBA diving Sea Champions found out just how much litter lies beneath the waves.

Dive clubs, divers and snorkellers took part in a litter clean-up… underwater!

Sea Champion Volunteer Coordinator for Wales, Rebecca O'Dowd, organised an underwater clean-up in collaboration with the Swansea Yacht and Sub Aqua Club as part of BSAC's Underwater Litterpick 2012.

Whilst SCUBA divers collected and surveyed litter underwater at Langland and Swansea Bay, volunteers who wanted to remain dry undertook a clean-up and survey of the litter on the beach.

Both the underwater and beach survey results will contribute to the Beachwatch summary report. By finding out where the litter comes from on UK beaches, we can run targeted litter campaigns to influence policy makers and change peoples’ behaviour to try to stop it getting there in the first place. 

"It was great fun! We were surprised that there wasn’t much litter on the sea bed but we did find quite a lot of fishing line and weights. It was a great activity to be involved with and we look forward to supporting MCS in other activities in the future” says Sea Champion Paul Nusinov from Swansea.

The BSAC Underwater Litterpick 2012 was timed to coincide with our annual Beachwatch Big Weekend, and will be running until the end of October so there is still chance to take part.

For more information and to register for the BSAC Underwater Litterpick 2012 go to www.bsac.com/litterpick or call 0500 947202. Don't forget to let you're coordinator know if you are keen to take part!

If you don't fancy getting wet but would like to get involved with Beachwatch, click here.

Sea Champion Paul Nusinov gets ready for the underwater clean-up!

Runners needed for the Brighton Marathon!

The MCS Brighton Marathon team had a great time this year and the runners raised nearly £6,000 in total! We have six places available for 2013 and it would be fantastic to have you join our team for the 30th Anniversary of the Marine Conservation Society! 

As an MCS runner you will receive an exclusive running t-shirt or vest, lots of fundraising support and a huge cheer from the MCS cheer points!  Find out more and apply for a charity place today

If you have applied for a ballot place and would like to join the MCS Marathon team, please get in touch with Tori Williams (fundraising@mcsuk.org).

The deadline for applications is Sunday 14th October and all the information (including the application form) can be found here.

Sea Champions have been running for us too! Katie Macer-Wright ran the Forest of Dean Half Marathon raising £571 for marine conservation. Thanks Katie!



Sea Champion Katie Macer-Wright running the Forest of Dean Half Marathon



Sea Champions hit 100!

 

100 Sea Champions are now representing MCS in their communities!

 

From Falmouth to Hastings, Swansea to Bangor and Edinburgh all the way up to Sutherland, our team of a hundred Sea Champions are out there raising a voice for our seas.

 

Sea Champions have been instrumental in gathering support for our campaigns, encouraging thousands of people to pledge for marine protection, getting public support for "Break the Bag Habit", and asking organisations to say 'No!' to balloon and lantern releases.

 

Some Sea Champions have been trained as Seasearch divers, have taken part in Beachwatch surveys and have got involved in marine wildlife reporting across the UK.

 

From dive shows, wildlife festivals and sustainable seafood events, to school assemblies, talks for SCUBA clubs and even co-hosting wildlife cruises with RSPB, you name it, Sea Champions have been there getting the public involved, engaging the next generation, and signing up new volunteers all over the UK.

 

Sea Champions have made a fantastic start to getting the MCS message out into their communities!

 

Whether you are retired, a student or a professional, anybody can get involved. Our Sea Champion recruitment goes on so do get in touch with the Volunteer Coordinator for your area to find out how, or visit www.mcsuk.org/seachampions.

 

 

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!

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

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.

Sea Champion gets Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall to pledge for Marine Protection

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was on the beach yesterday filming for his new series of Fish Fight for Channel 4. From Thailand and the Phillipines to Antarctica, Hugh has been focussing on Marine Protected Areas all around the world.

Sea Champions showed their support when Hugh arrived at Weston-super-Mare yesterday. Whilst Hugh demonstrated the impact some trawlers can have on the sea floor, Sea Champions Katie Macer-Wright and Kirsty Lynham were on the beach gathering pledges for marine protection in England and distributing campaign materials. 

Hugh was asking the public to think about where their fish comes from, whilst our Sea Champions were distributing Pocket Good Fish Guides to the audience.

"It was an amazing day packed with visual impact, and lots of the kids loved it. It really helped the public see the destruction some fishing methods can cause and the need for MPAs" says Kirsty.

You can help stop this destruction by pledging for marine protection here.

Demonstrating the impact some trawlers can have on the sea floor.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pledging for marine protection with Sea Champion Katie Macer-Wright

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!

 

Stuck for inspiration?

2 men, 3 years, 15 countries, 10,000 miles. On foot.

A charity walk across the globe from Cardiff Wales, to Cardiff Australia.

Kieran Rae and Arjun Bhogal have the ambition to help make the world a better place, and have made a statement of truly global proportions.

Raising funds for the Marine Conservation Society and Water Aid, they will be starting from Cardiff in Wales. They are walking for around three years, through fifteen countries, covering over ten thousand miles and crossing areas such as the Eastern European forests, Kazakhstan plains, Taklamakan desert, Tibetan Plateau, Himalayas, Vietnamese jungle and east Australian coast, finishing in Cardiff, New South Wales, Australia.

In addition to raising funds, they will be producing a documentary raising awareness of environmental issues, issues that have no borders and affect us all, from the luxury apartments of Regent Street in London to the Karol Bargh Market district of India.
You can sponsor the team and keep up to date by following them on Twitter. 

Find out more.

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.

Wildlife Cruise on the Firth of Forth

Scottish Sea Champion Casey Perry talked indepth about seals onboard wildlife cruise co-hosted by RSPB and Sea Champion Volunteer Coordinator Matt Barnes.

From kittiwakes, gannets, fulmars and gilimots to puffins, seals and many more species, around 90 people jumped onboard the cruise to spot some of Scotlands amazing wildlife in the Firth of Forth. 

Whilst Matt and Casey talked about wildlife, Sea Champion Sarah Conner encouraged people to pledge for marine protection in Scotland.

Grey Seal by Dave Boyle

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!

Over a tonne of rubbish cleared from South Queensferry - one of the largest ammounts ever collected during an MCS beach clean in Scotland!

Scottish Volunteer Coordinator Matt Barnes has just become a Beachwatch Organiser as part of the Marine Conservation Soceity's Beachwatch program.

Matt organised the first quarterly clean-up of the beach at South Queensferry in May with a team of 33 volunteers, who bagged up one of the largest amounts of rubbish ever collected during an MCS beach clean in Scotland.

The volunteers were blessed with brilliant spring sunshine and collected over a tonne of rubbish including a sofa, TV, trolley and even some bikes!

You too can become a Beachwatch Organiser!

Follow the link or contact your Volunteer Coordinator for more information.

Volunteers at the first Sea Champion beach clean in Scotland!

Welcome to the Sea Champions blog!

A big, warm welcome to all our Sea Champions to the Sea Champions interactive blog!

For those of you that have stumbled across our blog, Sea Champions is an exciting new volunteering initiative for the Marine Conservation Society. With funding support from Marks & Spencer we can now mobilise thousands of volunteers across the nation that have a passion for our seas.

Sea Champions are our hands on the ground. By helping to raise a public voice in your communities Sea Champions can enable us to challenge governments and organisations who can make a difference to the way our oceans are treated. We have found that people power really brings about change for the better - convincing governments of the need for a marine act, helping supermarkets to see the need to source sustainable seafood, and informing public opinion more widely.

You can help us in our vital work, and immerse yourself in MCS activities in many different ways under our three overarching themes of marine protection, sustainable fisheries and clean seas and beaches.

From writing to your MP and pledging for marine protection in England, Scotland and Wales, distributing campaign materials, and holding talks and attending events, to creating plastic bag free communities, campaigning against balloon releases, or organising beach cleans. These are just a few of the many activities you could get involved in as a Sea Champion. Or perhaps you have a particular interest in marine wildlife and want to get involved in wildlife surveys?

This blog has been set up to help you share your stories and ideas with other Sea Champions across the nation.

Want your ideas or activities to appear on this blog? Then get in touch with your Volunteer Coordinator:

Scotland: Matt Barnes t: 07891 319268 e: matt.barnes@mcsuk.org
Wales: Rebecca O'Dowd t: 07772 218655 e: rebecca.o'dowd@mcsuk.org
South West: Patrick Joel t: 07891 319277 e: patrick.joel@mcsuk.org
South & South East: Ed Santry t: 07772 218447 e: ed.santry@mcsuk.org

In it, on it, under it or by it –however you enjoy the sea, get in touch with your Volunteer Coordinator to find out more about how you can take action.

Happy volunteering!

Justine Millard, UK Sea Champions Manager.