For nearly 10 years I have been teaching, writing, tweeting, speaking, blogging, presenting and workshopping pretty much around the clock, in my role as a science teacher, a diving instructor, and now presently as a Science Communicator here at Project Seagrass. I’ve learnt to use all the communication tools I
Hello! My name is Sarah Jane Pope and this year I am running the London, Edinburgh and Stockholm marathons this year to raise money for Project Seagrass. I’ll get straight to the point… You can sponsor me here! http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SJPopester I decided to take up this challenge because I wanted to
In a previously life I was a Secondary School Science Teacher, and I was privileged to work at a fantastic school (alongside some of the most innovative and enthusiastic teachers the UK has to offer). I know these teachers took their pedagogy seriously, and I was reminded of this dedication when I
With every year that passes we’re given a unique opportunity to look back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. I’ll be honest, every year since our inception in 2013 we’ve been immensely shocked at just how much we’ve achieved given that we’re on a shoestring budget. 2016 was certainly no
Let me introduce ‘SJ’ (Sarah Jane Pope). SJ has been with Project Seagrass from the very start, she used to act as our secretary when we were based out of the front room of my house in Swansea; collecting post, answering the phone, and sending mail on to the relevant people… Things
A sunny Saturday in Swansea and Project Seagrass had a stall set up ready for the British Science Festival’s Family Fun weekend. A big seagrass mural was laid out surrounded by crayons and paints for kids to get stuck in, and immediately the crowds hit. Kids everywhere colouring all kinds of
Project Seagrass moved to Scotland in April 2016 stating that this moment would herald A New Dawn For Scottish Seagrass. We spoke then of our ambition to engage with Scotland’s coastal communities and begin the much needed process of mapping Scotland’s seagrass meadows. We also discussed our ambition for conducting outreach
Sitting down to write this I really don’t know quite where to begin! What a year it has been, in fact, what a 3 years! Although for me it seems that soooooo much has happened in just the last 12 months! Before I start, on a personal note, I remember
As masters students from both Swansea and Glasgow Universities, we’re both currently carrying out seagrass related research projects. Beth is performing her masters project, and Lauren is performing her final year honours project. Beth is studying the impacts of chain moorings on seagrass, particularly looking at how chain width effects
As a third year Biology Student from Cardiff University, I’ve been lucky to get involved with Project Seagrass, which has its offices within the University. I first started working with the team last summer when I took part in an 8 week CUROP placement (Cardiff University Research Opportunities Programme) at
For nearly 10 years I have been teaching, writing, tweeting, speaking, blogging, presenting and workshopping pretty much around the clock, in my role as a science teacher, a diving instructor, and now presently as a Science Communicator here at Project Seagrass. I’ve learnt to use all the communication tools I can – from websites, books, and newspaper articles to photographs, videos, lectures and feature documentaries. I’ve done my level best to communicate science using kindergarten science kits, through to syllabus prescribed carbon chemistry, and through delving into the emotional narrative and philosophy that I surround climate change discourse with at the college level. Yet I still struggle with doubt that I’m not doing enough to communicate the importance of science and what science means to humanity. Principally what it means to adopt a rational, logical and Fact-Based Worldview. In this brave new world of ‘alternative-facts’ and an open war on science, and after the untimely news of the passing of a personal hero of mine Hans Rosling (a grief shared by many I’m sure), I felt it pertinent to put my stake in the ground for science. Furthermore, it was important to articulate my LOVE on Valentine’s Day – both for science (the pursuit of truth) and of course for my beloved “ugly duckling” – our disappearing seagrass meadows. Show your love for seagrass meadows this Valentine’s Day I guess this blog sort of starts with my trainee teacher year in 2007, and the need I had to learn to communicate national curriculum prescribed science to my science classes. At the time, I did my best to become a ‘good teacher’; I read up on the latest science, and I delivered the facts as I knew them to the class, making sure they would have the right information, to get the right answers come exam time. I ticked all the right boxes. All that information was important (of course!), but I did worry that by being so calm, clinical and methodical in my pedagogy, that perhaps I was implicitly sending the message that some of the more existential science we covered (global phenomena like climate change and ocean acidification) were these just more facts to learn on the way to exam success. I thought maybe the planet wasn’t in a crisis at all… After all, why else would I be so calm about it? Working as a Science Teacher is a privilege, but also a great responsibility. Perhaps another reason I struggled was because of guilt. To quote Naomi Klein; “Climate change is intergenerational theft”. Shouldn’t I be discussing how this makes my students feel? Shouldn’t I be showing more anger at the path we are choosing to follow? Shouldn’t I be doing everything in my capacity to open their eyes to these issues and encourage them to alter the course we’re taking? Luckily for me, in 2006, Al Gore released a ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, a documentary film about former United States Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to educate citizens about global warming and the science of climate change. (Quick heads up – ‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power’ will be in theatres July 28, 2017, and whilst I am here, you should also watch Before The Flood, November 6, 2016) To quote Naomi again; “The safety and habitability of our shared home is intensely emotional terrain, triggering perfectly rational feelings of loss, fear and grief”. Yet, despite these occasional emotionally charged narratives, climate discourse is often a clinical affair, weighed down with statistics (but yes we still need them!) and political jargon. Even in the sunshine, collecting data to be made into statistics can be an unengaging affair! Unfortunately, the tone of scientific discourse often fails to capture the feeling of what we stand to lose. Casting my mind back I remember when I first watched this passage from Al Gore I cried. (video link through text); “You see that pale, blue dot? That’s us. Everything that has ever happened in all of human history, has happened on that pixel. All the triumphs and all the tragedies, all the wars all the famines, all the major advances… it’s our only home. And that is what is at stake, our ability to live on planet Earth, to have a future as a civilization. I believe this is a moral issue, it is your time to seize this issue, it is our time to rise again to secure our future.” It made me realise that sometimes we need to go beyond statistics, and harness emotions if we are to communicate a real sense of importance. Ever engaged with the humble seagrass meadow! Seagrasses have been termed the ‘ugly ducklings of marine conservation’ ecosystems and there are enormous stakes of losing these productive carbon sinks and fisheries powerhouses. I have previously written that the loss of seagrass meadows is a carbon time bomb and we have even tried to link our science to what we think people care about… “For the love of cod, let’s save our disappearing seagrass” I’ve been quoted before stating that it is the people we love and care about that depend on seagrass and have tried to phrase this in the simplest way I know how; “So many coastal fishing communities are dependent on coastal health. To put it simply, if there are no baby fish, there are no adult fish and if there are no adult fish, there is no fishing industry” I’ve even put my signature on the World Seagrass Association’s statement, and a ‘call for action’ to protect ‘the lungs of the sea’. However, despite all this, I still don’t feel that the emotion, the genuine care and passion for raising awareness of this ecosystem is getting across in my message. So, let me attempt a new tactic, one that moves beyond the statistics and the science. Let me simply declare a LOVE for the most underappreciated, unrecognised and unknown of marine ecosystems, the humble seagrass meadow. Seagrass you are Fulsnygg! Fulsnygg (Ugly-Beautiful) is Swedish, and is the feeling that somebody (or something) is attractive despite its lack of
Hello! My name is Sarah Jane Pope and this year I am running the London, Edinburgh and Stockholm marathons this year to raise money for Project Seagrass. I’ll get straight to the point… You can sponsor me here! http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SJPopester I decided to take up this challenge because I wanted to help support Project Seagrass cause, and help the team on their mission to raise awareness of seagrass meadows. Over the last 3 and a half years I have learnt so much about these amazing ecosystems and I have been constantly impressed with the dedication these guys have shown. It has taken a lot of personal sacrifice to build a charity from scratch in your spare time! It’s incredible to see how Project Seagrass has grown, from being a small NGO based out of our living room (i’m RJ’s girlfriend), to being a registered charity in both England and Wales (1162824), and now in Scotland (SC0467) However, despite the great cause, it’s also a personal challenge for me. I have a point to prove to myself. Back in 2013 I was training for the Edinburgh marathon with RJ and his pals to raise money for WWF Scotland when on my final long run (the 20 miler) I tripped over a tree root and injured my Iliotibial band (IT Band) – gutted! So now I’m back fit again, and ready to push myself a for a good environmental cause! Back in 2013 I had to look on as the team raised funds for WWF I first announced this challenge back in November 2016, when the sun was shining and we were experiencing unseasonably mild Autumn temperatures. I was perhaps naively expecting training conditions to be similar to what they had been like when I was training before in the south-west (Bristol / Cardiff / Swansea), which although inevitably WET, were WARM (or mild at least)! However, this was not the case! Scotland can be impressively cold! On the east coast, we are sheltered from much of the precipitation, and so we do get days which are cool and crisp. On days like these it is almost a pleasure to be training… November was cold and crisp However, on other occasions, when it does rain / sleet / snow the thought of going for even just a quick 5-mile run doesn’t bare thinking about (although I begrudgingly do it anyway!). The snow can be beautiful, but it can also be brutal. Also, the romance of snow is utterly ruined, there is very little magic in running in a snowstorm, although sitting with a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate knowing that you’ve earned it go’s some way to convincing you that this was a good idea (even though you can’t feel your fingers and or your face). Anyway, I thought I’d write this quick blog as I’ve just passed a landmark in my training – the ½ marathon! On Saturday RJ and I ran 14 miles around Arthurs Seat and The Meadows and we’re both feeling good with where we are at… I’ll check in again, closer to the time, but in the meantime, sponsor me! SJ x If anyone, like SJ, has a desire to challenge themselves for charity then we are all ears! Simply contact us at info@projectseagrass.org
In a previously life I was a Secondary School Science Teacher, and I was privileged to work at a fantastic school (alongside some of the most innovative and enthusiastic teachers the UK has to offer). I know these teachers took their pedagogy seriously, and I was reminded of this dedication when I saw a few familiar faces at ‘the bett show’ this week. Bett is the former British Educational Training and Technology Show and showcases the use of information technology in education. Founded in 1985, it is held annually at the ExCeL centre in London, England. The mission statement of bett is ‘to bring together people, ideas, practices and technologies so that educators and learners can fulfil their potential’. Transforming Education – The mission statement of the bett show Each year I attend bett, but I do so these days whilst looking through a different pedagogical lens. I attend with the explicit aim of learning about how advances in information technology could be harnessed by science communicators to help enhance marine education. In this case, our Project Seagrass – Seagrass Education and Awareness (SEA) program. There are numerous small exhibitors offering a suite of novel technologies To give you a flavour of the innovators that attend bett we should perhaps focus on a recent success story. One of the stand-out exhibitors of the past few years has been Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit-card sized, single-board computers manufactured in Wales by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Their mission statement is to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries. Just this week Google has announced it is planning to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to the Raspberry Pi… don’t panic though, there are still plenty of other options for complete beginners! So was there anything could be useful for marine education at bett this year? Well yes, quite a lot actually. Immersive interactive were demonstrating their immersive classrooms for primary, secondary and special education needs education. Their stand demonstrated how a combination of high-end graphics, sound effects and animations could transport a child from the classroom into an ‘atmospheric panorama’ of the chosen place; be that an ancient Egyptian tomb, a humid Rainforest, or in my head, a Seagrass Meadow bustling with life! “‘It’s ‘not a teleport’, but at the moment it’s the ‘next best thing!’” Another take on creating a virtual reality though technology is ClassVR, which manufacture virtual reality headsets designed specifically for use in schools. Whilst wearing this headset I was able to take a dive into the open ocean with a Great White Shark, a friendly fella who swam right out of the blue to come and check me out. Virtual Reality in the Classroom One of the interesting developments for me personally was Kudlian’s new service; they now offer Civil Aviation Authority licensed lessons to use drones in schools. At Project Seagrass we have used drones for mapping coastal habitats and the scope for scientific advancement using this newly accessible technology seems limitless at the moment! In primary and secondary schools Kudlian propose using drones for; • Literacy – creative writing using aerial video and photographs; writing control manuals • Math – estimating and measuring heights, speed, distance travelled, time taken, angles, bearings • Computing – drones can be programmed using mobile devices • Geography – GPS logging, map reading, course planning • Media Studies – aerial footage in videos and media work • Physical Education – film matches and plays from different angles, • PSHE – debate the ethics of using drones and, of course, Science! The final exhibitor that struck a chord with me this week was AIPTEK. Whilst not specifically targeting pedagogy, AIPTEK definitely strive to make mobile teaching easier by developing a number of ‘mobile projection’ products. I was particularly impressed with the Boombox Projector P800 (a HD Projector with 360° Sound-System). For those of us who spend time at Science Festivals, or on the road travelling to give talks (in sometimes small and remote places) this is an all-in-one portable system that projects a clear picture whilst offering a crisp sound. Perfect! On a personal note, it was great to see ‘Hwb’ at bett this year! Hwb is a website and collection of online tools provided to all schools in Wales by the Welsh governement. It was created in response to the ‘Find it, Make it, Use it, Share it’ report into Digital Learning in Wales. The main site contains over 88,000 bilingual resources. In addition teachers and learners with accounts can sign in and access a range of other online tools and resources. Included in this is a school specific Learning Platform (Hwb+) It was great to see a Welsh presence at bett 2017 At we believe that education is the best approach to generate both awareness and understanding of both seagrass and the marine environment. Please support us in delivering our work by sponsoring SJ on her Three Before Thirty martahon challenge! Thanks and best fishes! RJ
With every year that passes we’re given a unique opportunity to look back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. I’ll be honest, every year since our inception in 2013 we’ve been immensely shocked at just how much we’ve achieved given that we’re on a shoestring budget. 2016 was certainly no different. January We kicked off 2016 with a bang as Richard and myself released our paper discussing the “The perilous state of seagrass in the British Isles”. This was subsequently picked up by the BBC and the Daily Mail amongst others. Additional to this, RJ headed to the BETT show in London to explore the potential use of IT in marine education. Every year, the BETT show sees some of the most innovative education service providers and distributors “take to the stage”, and it opened our eyes to the potential that technology has for marine conservation – a theme that would shape some of our ideas for the year to come. In January Ben and Richards paper made the headlines February Fast forward to February and we were continuing to build on the momentum be built up in January with a hugely successful Seagrass Education & Awareness (SEA) day with Ysgol Morfa Nefyn, complete with seagrass species sand monsters and even a seagrass meadow treasure hunt! We completed the first (albeit cold!) Seagrass-Watch survey of the year, and checked up on our restoration trial that we’d started back in November 2015. Unfortunately, winter storms had battered the site which we’d chosen, and after finding a few seed bags out of the sediment, we weren’t sure of the success of their placement. However, we did observe some signs of germination which gave us hope for the future. Further to this, I was invited to speak live on BBC World News on the topic of marine litter, and we saw a pivotal moment for seagrass research, with seagrass featuring on the cover of Nature. In February Ben was invited to speak live on the BBC. March When I think back to March, it almost seems as though that month alone deserves its own blog post. Back in 2015 we entered the #PeoplesProjects, a competition held by the Big Lottery Fund and ITV to win up to £50,000 of National Lottery money. The Peoples Projects aimed to give organisations the chance to build upon previous projects they had completed with help from the Awards For All funding scheme. We came up with Mission SEA, which aimed to bring the ‘coast to the classroom’ and the ‘classroom to the coast’ to engage Wales’ children with our marine natural heritage. The education scheme we proposed, which would have involved 15,000 children from the counties of Gwynedd, Ceredigion and the Isle of Anglesey, sought to teach children about the resources that our seas provide, whilst inspiring them to become future guardians of our oceans. Although we didn’t win the funding, we finished in the Top 5, and we accompanied the campaign with our hugely successful Project Seagrass Official Launch and the launch of our novel seagrass mapping application, SeagrassSpotter. March was also the month we made our views clear on the EU referendum. “Don’t let the UK become a fish out of water: For the sake of our seas let’s stay in the EU.” Finally Leanne and Richard released a publication that explains in simple terms how to improve the health of the worlds seagrass, at the same time releasing a summary video on YouTube! In March our “Mission Sea” outreach activities were a great success! April While SeagrassSpotter picked up its own pace throughout April, RJ took a lead in expanding the range of Project Seagrass to Scotland, opening a new base of operations, albeit from his living room, in Edinburgh. I spent time in Cambodia, setting up a Cardiff University research project and additional time in Myanmar taking the first detailed look at seagrass communities in the Myeik Archipelago. In April Ben had help on his hunt for seagrass in Myanmar May In May I presented some of my work at MSEAS in France at a conference focussing on understanding marine socio-ecological systems (including the human dimension in Integrated Ecosystem Assessments) and later this month Greg (our regional ambassador for the East of England) conducted some outreach at The Deep in Hull. Richard attended a Zostera Experimental Network gathering in Davis, California. In May Richard attended a Zostera Experimental Network gathering in Davis, California June In June we discovered some long lost seagrass (the first time Zostera marina has been recorded at the location since 1891!) and RJ and Lauren delivered a very successful event at Glasgow Science Festival’s Science Sunday Big Birthday Bash! The stickers, postcards and posters were a huge hit with Glasgow’s young folk so we made sure we had plenty of materials to hand out to Scotland’s next generation of marine biologists! In June the Glasgow Science Festival was a huge success! July July kicked off with a trip down south for Lauren who did some work with the Cornwall IFCA to help understand the juvenile fish value of seagrass in Cornwall. At the same time Laura was working with James Duffy (a PhD student from Exeter University), they began a summer of mapping seagrass using a variety of drones in Wales. Ben and Josie did some outreach with many of the thousands of people who enjoyed Kate Humble’s inaugural Big Day Out festival. Richard led a workshop in Makassar, Indonesia in collaboration with Hasanuddin University and Alex joined us in the field on a Work Experience placement. To round off July, Richard gave a plenary talk about seagrass and food security to The 1st Indian Seagrass Ecology Conference. In July Lauren headed south to work with the Cornish IFCA August In August we heard of our success in applying for charitable status in Scotland and RJ helped to run a workshop at IMCC4 on “Bringing fishermen to the table” using online “Bambuser” technology. A simple concept, yet one that marks a pretty important development considering a lot of commercial fishermen (from both developed and developing countries) who cannot attend conferences like IMCC4 or other such events. In August we were awarded Charitable Status in Scotland: Charity number SC046788 September In September, Evie organised the delivery of some excellent outreach at the British Science Festival and the team began assisting the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) with the development of a seagrass and dugong e-resource kit.
Let me introduce ‘SJ’ (Sarah Jane Pope). SJ has been with Project Seagrass from the very start, she used to act as our secretary when we were based out of the front room of my house in Swansea; collecting post, answering the phone, and sending mail on to the relevant people… Things are a bit more formal these days! SJ has been a keen supporter of Project Seagrass since it began. SJ is a keen runner and owner of a massage company called SJ Holistics based in Edinburgh, she specializes in offering Swedish, Deep Tissue and Pregnancy Massage, but also offers general conditioning advice. Like others at Project Seagrass, SJ likes to challenge herself, and she will be blogging about her upcoming challenges on her website… which brings me to the subject of this blog post! SJ has agreed to run 3 marathons next year for Project Seagrass: The London Marathon on the 23rd April, the Edinburgh Marathon on the 28th May and then just seven days later, the Stockholm Marathon on the 4th June! The London Marathon is always well supported and a big day for charities SJ worked as a massage therapist at last years Edinburgh Marathon so has seen what it takes The idea behind the challenge is three-fold, first, SJ has never run a marathon and has always said she wanted to do “three before thirty” and with time running out she needed to get on the case! Second, she was keen to raise money for a good cause (so what better cause than Project Seagrass!?) and finally to use the marathons as a platform to raise awareness of seagrass internationally. Marathons can be great opportunities to get your charity seen by many people and so we hope to make the most of these three events! SJ has already been training in the Pentland Hills We will be hoping to collect sponsorship in the weeks ahead so make sure you check back with us to see how the training is progressing! The link to SJs sponsorhip page is here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SJPopester Personally, I have completed two marathons in my life, and one of the hardest challenges (particularly for London) is the training that needs to take place through the winter months. For SJ this marathon will be even harder than mine since she will be training through a Scottish winter! Training throughout the cold Scottish winter will be one of SJs biggest challenges I’m sure you’ll join me in thanking SJ for her continued support of Project Seagrass and wishing her the very best with her training program as the nights draw in! Good luck SJ, the seagrass thanks you! #TeamSeagrass
A sunny Saturday in Swansea and Project Seagrass had a stall set up ready for the British Science Festival’s Family Fun weekend. A big seagrass mural was laid out surrounded by crayons and paints for kids to get stuck in, and immediately the crowds hit. Kids everywhere colouring all kinds of creatures which live in our seagrass meadows- never had any of Project Seagrass seen so many seahorses in one meadow! So with kids hoarding to paint their seahorse, herring or anemone, more space had to be created to accommodate the high demand and the seagrass mural was quickly filled with animals. It was fantastic to see so much marine life and so many seahorses in our meadow! As well as the kids getting covered in paint, we had many taking a ‘Seagrass Selfie’; the selfie takers got to dress up as a proper ‘seagrass scientist’ complete with fins and tape measure- some participants being so small that the mask took over their whole face! Budding seagrass scientists were able to see (and try on) our survey equipment and imagine themselves as marine biologists one day So beyond the fun and games it was a really successful weekend for spreading the seagrass message with lots of festival goers keen to learn more and get involved, especially with our “SeagrassSpotter” app (which can be found at www.seagrassspotter.org). We met some really interesting people with many seagrass stories, including memories of seagrass in the local area and lots of budding kids keen to learn more and make a splash in a real seagrass meadow. For many, it was also an opportunity to visit a beautiful parts of Wales. Whilst many have heard of Penrhyn Gŵyr (the Gower Peninsula) few people think of Swansea when a beach holiday comes to mind… Although with the recent promotional work from Visit Swansea Bay this is clearly changing! Three cliffs bay on the Gower Peninsula is a firm favourite with visitors to Swansea To be able to share our seagrass science in our hometown of Swansea was a real privilege, and a reminder of just how much Project Seagrass has grown in just three years! Thanks to everyone who came along to the festival and helped make the event such a success! Here’s to the next three years, iechyd da!
Project Seagrass moved to Scotland in April 2016 stating that this moment would herald A New Dawn For Scottish Seagrass. We spoke then of our ambition to engage with Scotland’s coastal communities and begin the much needed process of mapping Scotland’s seagrass meadows. We also discussed our ambition for conducting outreach and education events starting in June with Project Seagrass at the Glasgow Science Festival 2016. These ambitions were picked up in Scotland’s National Newspaper in July, which ran the headline ‘Seagrass meadows to be saved around Scottish coasts’ and since then we’ve had a great many more positive developments to report, not least the great news this August 17th of our success in applying for charitable status in Scotland; Charity number SC046788! Fundamentally, these early successes have placed us in a strong position to make connections with coastal communities across Scotland. Kerri Whiteside of Fauna and Flora International has been instrumental in helping in this process (so thanks Kerri!) and through her we have become aware of so many grassroots community organisation’s such as; The South Skye Seas Initiative, The Community of Arran Seabed Trust, St Abb’s and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve, The Fair Isle Marine Environment and Tourism Initiative, The Community Association of Lochs and Sounds, and Sea Change Wester Ross to name a few! The next step on the journey is to develop a Scottish Seagrass Network with these communities, and with universities, students and organisations to help map and monitor Scotland’s seagrass. The Scottish Seagrass Network has been set up as a platform for volunteers who wish to assist Project Seagrass in mapping and monitoring Scotland’s seagrass meadows. This summer RJ has been up in Fife visiting the University of St Andrews where he has been coordinating with Rufus Sullivan (the President of the School of Biology) about a series of seagrass, education and awareness activities. Rufus Sullivan is the School of Biology President at the University of St Andrews where Project Seagrass will be conducting our SEA Program. He has also been across at the University of Glasgow meeting with our current intern Lauren Clayton about the future scope for Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) and Seagrass-Watch monitoring on the West Coast this autumn and into next year. These meetings have been of particular benefit since Lauren is a key member of the Glasgow University Sub Aqua Club and the club has shown an interest in assisting Project Seagrass in mapping seagrass distribution around Scotland via our SeagrassSpotter app! Lauren Clayton is an MSc student at The University of Glasgow and is core member of Glasgow University Sub Aqua Club. Beyond the academic connections it has also been important to make connections with existing educational organisations across Scotland. We are currently in the process of developing Scottish educational materials, but once these are ready we have already agreed to deliver some to the St Andrews Aquarium, and the Scottish Fisheries Museum. The Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther We have sincerely enjoyed working in Scotland this summer and we are optimistic about the coming 12 months. I’ll blog again soon… So until then! Slàinte
Sitting down to write this I really don’t know quite where to begin! What a year it has been, in fact, what a 3 years! Although for me it seems that soooooo much has happened in just the last 12 months! Before I start, on a personal note, I remember our second anniversary so clearly, as if it was yesterday. Just one year ago today I was in Greece on a trip to map the coastal seagrass meadows around the island of Lipsi in the Dodecanese, using our (then new) DJI Phantom UAV (I remember because my girlfriend bought me a Spanakopita with a candle in it!). It was also the day we announced our successful application to be a charity in England and Wales. Now today, twelve months on, I find myself in Edinburgh having applied for (but as yet unable to announce) our charitable status in Scotland! We had much success communicating the importance of seagrass both through newspapers and television. Since 29th July last year we have spent time working in both Greece and Sri Lanka. That was last August. Work then continued in the Wakatobi National Park in Indonesia last September followed by our annual #AutumnSurvey in Wales last October. The next major date in the calendar was then the presentation of our work at the CERF conference in the Portland, USA in November. CERF2015 was a fantastic event, and a great platform to share our success stories #OceanOptimism With just a few week back in the office we were soon back to Indonesia once more, taking us from early December and into January and the new year. Director Dr Richard Unsworth led a workshop in Makassar in collaboration with Hasanuddin University. In 2016, after returning from overseas, the new year got off to a flying start with our #WinterSurvey in Wales in February and then our subsequent success in the ITV peoples project. Director Benjamin Jones running SEA (seagrass education and awareness) activities with children from Ysgol Morfa Nefyn Our ‘official launch’ at Cardiff University took place in March, and we were thrilled by the turnout and support we received. April was über busy, witnessing the welsh #SpringSurvey, our expansion into Scotland and research trips to both Cambodia and Myanmar. Our ‘official launch’ took place at Cardiff University in March. Thanks for ALL your support! In May we were in California for a fabulous week of Zostera Experimental Network collaborations, and the first of our summer outreach activities began with a weekend at The Deep in Hull, England. Director Dr Richard Unsworth was also present at a Zostera Experimental Network gathering in Davis, California. These were swiftly followed by outreach activities at Glasgow Science Festival, Scotland in June and Kate Humbles ‘Big Day Out’ in Monmouthshire, Wales in July. The last activity was our #SummerSurvey at which we hosted a work experience student for the first time. We conducted outreach activities and training with local stakeholders and government organisations such as Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust We were also proud to support the growth of young marine ecologists both at school and University via our Work Experience and Internship programmes. We have been humbled by the support the public has shown us over the last 3 years, so thanks to each and every one of you who are helping us champion our cause. Together we really are making a difference, and providing a global platform for dedicated seagrass science communication. I look forward to continuing this journey with #TeamSeagrass and we look forward to both the challenges and successes that our 4th year in operation will inevitably bring! Starting with the International Seagrass Biology Workshop this October! We look forward to welcoming the international seagrass community to Nant Gwytheryn in north Wales this October. Keep up the good work everyone and you’ll hear from us again soon. Until then, best fishes!
As masters students from both Swansea and Glasgow Universities, we’re both currently carrying out seagrass related research projects. Beth is performing her masters project, and Lauren is performing her final year honours project. Beth is studying the impacts of chain moorings on seagrass, particularly looking at how chain width effects the size seagrass scars. Beth uses a drop down camera frame and GoPro that she drops to the sea floor around moorings while snorkelling. Seagrass mooring scars in St Mary’s Bay, Isles of Scilly Lauren is studying the fish communities associated with Seagrass and non-seagrass habitats. Lauren drops baited cameras called BRUVs and leaves these for an hour, when the video is watched back the numbers and species of fish seen in the video are noted. Mono BRUVs ready to be deployed at Durgan, Helford Some of our first BRUV drops in Seagrass a couple of weeks ago resulted in us spotting a Cuttlefish, an amazing and unanticipated sighting! Last week we managed to get out on the Tigerlily, Cornwall IFCA’s research vessel to deploy some of the BRUVs in less accessible sites and also deploy some larger camera equipment. This week we have been to the Isles of Scilly to study the moorings in St Mary’s bay. We have managed to find some fantastic seagrass beds in the Helford River and Trefusis channel, and some great examples of seagrass scars too. Mono BRUVs ready to be deployed at Durgan, Helford So far the weather hasn’t been all that fantastic, but our last few days have been especially sunny, particularly the weather today in the Isles of Scilly, we’ve very much enjoyed being in the water for our research. This has been our first time in Cornwall and it has been fantastic, it’s just a shame we’ve been too busy to actually have a look around and be tourists for the day! We’ve both said though that we’d love to come back on holiday to this beautiful part of the country in the future.
As a third year Biology Student from Cardiff University, I’ve been lucky to get involved with Project Seagrass, which has its offices within the University. I first started working with the team last summer when I took part in an 8 week CUROP placement (Cardiff University Research Opportunities Programme) at the Sustainable Places Research Institute. The project itself, focused on studying the role of seagrass meadows in fisheries productivity in the Philippines and mainly involved searching for research papers linked to the topic. Relevant information was then incorporated into a literature review which focused on the status, importance, threats and conservation efforts currently taking place within seagrass meadows of the Philippines. Any details on fish species found to inhabit to seagrass ecosystem specifically in the Philippines were also added to an extensive database, to track known species in the country. I then presented my findings in a poster presentation and had the opportunity to talk to other students at Cardiff University and members of the public about the importance of seagrass meadows in the Philippines. My poster, created as part of my CUROP placement From this project, I have then gone on to study the status and distribution of another seagrass species, Zostera noltii, found closer to home, along the South Wales coastline. Z. noltii is one of the two seagrass species found in the UK and due to previous taxonomic confusion within the Zostera genus, there is a severe lack of understanding of the distribution of this species. Using historical records in the form of papers, reports and GIS layers I have been able to determine all the historical locations of Z. noltii found in Wales. This information along with details provided from Greg Brown’s (Project Seagrass Regional Ambassador) predictive mapping tool created for his MSc at Swansea University, has enabled me to generate a list of sites where Z. noltii has the potential to grow and survive. For my project, I have been visiting these specific sights and recording if Z. noltii is present or not, while also using out new Project Seagrass app, Seagrass Spotter (http://www.seagrassspotter.org). If Z. noltii is present I am then using various methods of ground truthing and aerial work using our Project Seagrass UAV, to generate accurate maps of the seagrass meadows, in hope that mapping the Z.noltii distribution will help aid its conservation in Wales. Extremely dense patches of Z. noltii observed in the Pembroke Dock Aerial image of dense seagrass meadow in Pwllcrochan, Pembrokeshire, taking on DJIGlobal Phantom 3. Drone work at Angle Bay with James Duffy, a PhD student from Exeter University. Whilst working for Project Seagrass I have also been able to get involved with some of the charity work aside from my own project, including taking part in multiple Seagrass-Watch surveys, in Porthdinllaen, North Wales. My first trip to Porthdinllaen in November 2015 was an unforgettable experience, seeing a Zostera seagrass meadow for the first time and being able to take part in Project Seagrass’s first seed restoration trial! I have also had the opportunity to participate in some of Project Seagrass’ educational outreach programs in North Wales, assisting and helping children from a local primary school understand the importance of seagrass meadows and learn more about some of the animals that live in their nearby ocean. I have thoroughly enjoyed this aspect to my placement, getting involved in other events such as Project Seagrass’ Mission Sea campaign for the People’s Project competition back in February and Project Seagrass’ official launch at Cardiff University, to help promote the charity amongst members of the general public. Furthermore, my placement year with Project Seagrass has given me the opportunity to get involved with some of the social media branding and simply helping to spread the Project Seagrass word. From writing blogs for organisations such as the Ian Somerhalder foundation to getting local volunteers and students from Cardiff university involved in seagrass sampling for my own research project. The Project Seagrass team is continuing to grow and I have loved teaching others about the great things Project Seagrass is doing to help protect this vulnerable marine ecosystem. I look forward to the rest of my placement here at Project Seagrass and hope to be just as involved next year when I return back to Cardiff University for my final year of my undergraduate degree.
