Marine Conservation Society – the UK charity protecting our seas, shores and wildlife

By Tori Williams

What excites you about the sea? Personally, I am fascinated by “what lies beneath”! We can see so much on land and it’s easy to care about habitats that you see every day, but it can be a little harder to associate yourself with the sea until you dive a little deeper…

Bloody henry starfish (image by Paul Kay)

I am lucky enough to work for the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) who work solely to protect our seas, shores and wildlife and I’m extremely proud to be part of the team. The team comprises of conservationists (of course!) but for there are divers, fishermen, surfers and beach lovers all eager to preserve and improve our seas.

MCS is based in landlocked Herefordshire, why? This is one of the most frequently asked questions! Our founder lives in a village just outside Ross-on-Wye and back in 1983 he started MCS in his garden shed after completing many dives in the UK and noticing a decline in the state of our seas. MCS has grown over the past 28 years to become the leading charity in our field – championing better protection for our seas and the wildlife that depends on it.

Don’t forget that nowhere in the UK is more than 72 miles from the coast and I’m sure most of the population has an affiliation with the sea in some way...whether it’s a fish supper on a Friday, surfing or childhood memories from family holidays.

Flame shell (image by Sue Scott)

The main areas of conservation at MCS are Pollution, Fisheries and Biodiversity. Each of the teams work with the public, government and industry to improve the way that we are using our seas; from lobbying government for marine protected areas to advising you and me about which fish we should avoid eating and those that are more sustainable – we want to protect the whole of the marine ecosystem. 

MCS produce online guides to help the public get the best from our seas and beaches. We produce the Good Beach Guide (a guide to the UK beaches with the best water quality), give advice to consumers via the Good Fish Guide about which species of fish are currently the most sustainable and produce an annual report on the litter that our volunteers find on UK beaches to pressure government to prioritise the need for a strategy to combat marine litter.

In the past year alone MCS has:

·         Informed over 250,000 people to make the right choices when buying sustainable seafood with our pocket Good Fish Guide.

·         Our educational initiative the “Cool Seas Roadshow” has inspired over 50,000 school children in the UK and over 4,000 children in Malaysia.

·         Involved nearly 10,000 volunteers in the UK-wide MCS Beachwatch litter surveys.

Tompot and a velvet swimmer crab in a crevice (image by Paul Naylor)

It’s not all doom and gloom when it comes to our seas and it’s not too late to make a difference! There are lots of things that we can all do to change the outlook for our seas, here are a few things that anyone can do today…

·         Varying the species of fish that you eat can help to reduce the pressure on popular species such as Atlantic Cod – keep an eye on the Good Fish Guide and download our iphone app to keep up to date with the latest news.

·         Nearly 73,000 pieces of plastic were removed from UK beaches on BeachWatch Big Weekend in 2010 (we’re still working on the 2011 results!). Sign up for a beach clean near you and think before you flush! All drains lead to the sea, don’t flush any sanitary items – including cotton buds - they may just end up on a beach.

·         Report your wildlife sightings! People from around the UK report the turtles, jellyfish and basking shark sightings to us so that we can study and understand the state of the UK seas.

·         Become a member or fundraise for MCS. We rely entirely on the generosity of our supporters and we couldn’t continue our work without you!

Jewel anemone (image by Sally Sharrock)

I am really looking forward to 2012; it should be another great year, with a growing number of people becoming aware of the importance of our oceans.

If you would like any information about MCS, please drop us an email via info@mcsuk.org and visit our website www.mcsuk.org

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the MCS Team! 

We would like to thank the wonderful people at MCS for the article and hope you all can help with their work around the UK.