The first presentation on Saturday was by Kirsten Smith of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Her talk was about the challenges the YWT faced and explained how the organisation works with stakeholders and uses events (such as boat trips) to promote public awareness. Her presentation detailed the story of Flamborough Head involving divers and the North Sea habitat. Click below to view her presentation ....

Kirsten Smith, North Sea Marine Advocacy Officer,  Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Building MPAs from the bottom up: North Sea MPA Advocacy

Phil Dyke of the National Trust spoke of the fundamental link between land and the sea and the public awareness established by the 3.8 million members of the National Trust country-wide. In his presentation he said the proposed MPA network in England has the support of the public. And although 63% of this public support does not live by the sea, many feel strong connections to it, through childhood experiences, holidays and intergenerational experiences. This demographic is an important part of the stakeholder group interested in the coastal, marine and protected landscapes. 

David Bullock Head of Nature Conservancy for the National Trust joined the talk referring to the Earl of Scarborough and the huge stuffed blue fin tuna at his home, Tatton Hall, a reminder of the past richness in Yorkshire seas with its herring and giant tuna which were there in abundance, but now gone.  He reflected on what practices were acceptable in times past, but which would not be acceptable today. Click below to view their presentation ....

Phil Dyke and David Bullock, National Trust
Linking Land And Sea: Marine Planning And The Opportunity To Promote A Landscape Scale Approach To Coastal And Inshore Marine Protected Area Management

Georgia Conolly, marine ranger of St Abbs & Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve, spoke of the diversity of the North Sea, especially the very diverse marine life around St Abbs. She described the history of the reserve which started mainly to resolve conflict between locals and visiting divers. The reserve is out to the 50m depth boundary. Now, all sectors work together, with increased tourism and divers visiting as a result of the protected marine life. There are 25,000 dives per year, worth £3.6m to the local economy, a higher figure than the value of fish £3.4m landed at Eyemouth. Click below to view her presentation ....

Georgia Conolly, VMR Marine Ranger, St Abbs & Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve

Calum Duncan of Seasearch, Marine Conservation Society has trained individuals from C.O.A.S.T. in Seasearch techniques since 2003. He gave an overview of all Seasearch work around the British Isles especially in Scotland and illustrated his talk with examples of areas off Arran and in the Western Isles.  He described the Loch Shira experience off Loch Fyne where time, effort and expense were spent surveying the rare giant fireworks anemones. This is where trawlers had recently operated in defiance of a voluntary agreement not to trawl the small area.
In 2010, 314 Seasearch recordings were inputed into the biodiversity network. Click below to view his presentation ....

Calum Duncan, Marine Conservation Society
Seasearch and Coastal Communities