Young COAST Ambassador status awarded to Lewis Wilkinson
Aspiring Young Naturalist, Lewis Wilkinson, has been awarded Young Ambassador status for the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST). Individuals or groups of people who have gone above and beyond in their dedication to advancing the mission and goals of COAST have long been recognised by the charity through awarding of the elite Ambassador status.
Lewis, who has been visiting his family on Arran for as long as he can remember, learned on his last visit about the effects of dredging and trawling on local marine wildlife. Taking matters into his own hands, Lewis sent a letter to the Prime Minister, advocating for a ban on dredging and trawling. The letter was forwarded on to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who responded with some information on their plans to stop bottom trawling in 41 Marine Protected Areas.
90 years between them: How Lewis was inspired by Sir David Attenborough
Lewis is also a keen collector of fossils and has been collecting them for some time. Having grown up watching Sir David Attenborough’s inspiring documentaries, Lewis was keen to share his findings with the fellow fossil enthusiast by writing a second letter. A few weeks later, Lewis and his family were shocked and delighted to receive a hand-written response from David himself congratulating Lewis on his collection.
Taking action for Arran’s seas
Lewis hasn’t stopped there, he has shared his letters and replies with his school and he is using them to teach his classmates about dredging and trawling and inspire them to become ocean activists themselves.
“This is exactly the kind of actions COAST aim to instil in their visitors and at just ten years old, we were extremely impressed at the lengths Lewis has gone to share his interests, inspire his friends and fight for Arran’s seas. He is a very worthy recipient of Ambassador status” commented Lily Holbrook, COAST’s Outreach and Communications Manager.
The award was presented by COAST’s co-founder Howard Wood who said:
“It’s an absolute please to present the COAST Ambassador Award to Lewis. We don’t give these out lightly, but Lewis has gone way beyond what many people are doing, writing his letters. Not only writing the letters but getting replies from the Prime Minister and from Sir David Attenborough. Well Done Lewis.”
Q+A with Lewis Wilkinson, Young COAST Ambassador
Why did you write your letter to the Prime Minister?
I saw a pod of dolphins in Brodick and I realised they were swimming really fast. Then I saw them in Kildonan and I saw a boat with big machinery in the back and my Gran told me it was a dredger. I started googling dredgers and trawlers to see what happened and I realised that was why a lot of ocean animals were becoming endangered. So, I decided I wanted to try and stop that happening.
‘I might be one of the only people in Glasgow who would try and stop it.’
Was that the first time that you’d heard about dredging and trawling, when you saw those dolphins?
Yes, it was, and when I went back to the mainland and I told all of my classmates back at school, they didn’t know anything about dredging and trawling. I realised that not many people would try to stop it because not many people know about it. So, if I tried to stop it, I might be one of the only people in Glasgow (where I come from) who would try and stop it.
‘I realised that not many people know about it.’
And what sort of things have you done to try and encourage your classmates and friends to do something to protect the ocean?
We did a show and tell about my letters which a lot of [my classmates] were amazed about. I brought in fossils that David Attenborough wrote [to me about] and told me what they were and that seemed to inspire them a lot. They seemed to really want to help. I’ve also been organising writing letters to David Attenborough in class.
Did you watch the Ocean with David Attenborough film?
Yes.
And what did that make you think [about] when you were watching that?
I love to see all the animals and what happens in their lives and what it would be like if no one disturbed them. How they would live happily hunting for food and not having to swim away and escape from dredgers, trawlers, fishing boats or anything that kills [them].
‘You can find more wildlife than you think in one rockpool’
With that film it was really great to see a bit about Arran’s Seas and I understand that your Grandma, she lives here in Whiting Bay doesn’t she, so were you coming here as a child?
I came when I was a few weeks old – about 3 weeks old, that was the first time I came.
What is it that you most love about coming Arran and what’s your favourite thing about Arran’s seas?
My favourite thing about coming to Arran is wherever I stay there’s always a beach that I can walk to or there’s some sort of wildlife. At Whiting Bay, where I’m staying, there’s a slender billed curlew and it’s got a nest just off the beach and that’s probably the only one I’ve seen since I was 3 years old. I don’t really see as much wildlife [back in Glasgow], you don’t get golden eagles and [you don’t] often see herons. So, I love the wildlife and I think it’s really nice to see the difference [between Glasgow and Arran]. [In Arran] there’s all the beaches right around [the island], Holy Island, Pladda, Ailsa Craig that you can all see from the island which I really love. You see lots of crabs in the water, seals, dolphins and there’s also basking sharks – I’ve not seen one yet but I’m still looking out for them.
You said you’ve been coming here from when you were really tiny, how old are you now Lewis?
I’m turning 10 in 5 days.
What do you think you see yourself doing in the future? Is [looking after the seas] something that you want to keep doing for a long time?
Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to be a marine biologist. I’ve watched a lot of shows about it and I’ve seen how the planet used to be where there weren’t any fishing boats and there was just so much more wildlife around. When I went on the COAST boat trip to the No Take Zone and we put a camera down, you could see all the seals, fish and even the seaweed and corals [which] was amazing to see. I loved it and I’ve not seen it anywhere else.
‘Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to be a Marine Biologist’
How has Sir David Attenborough inspired you?
I was watching one of his shows and I saw a picture of how all the sharks – most people don’t really like them because they are scared – get their fins cut off and turned into medicine. [I saw] how so many of the creatures that people don’t really like are dying because no one is looking [out for] them and they’re all going extinct or [becoming] endangered.
Is there a special message that you’d like to give Sir David Attenborough for his 100th birthday?
Thanks for all the things that you do and everyone looks forward to [your shows]!
Is there anything that gives you hope for the future of Arran’s seas and the recovery of the marine life there?
COAST have been doing lots of things and since I was young, I’ve been learning more about the sea and I’ve seen that not everything is [bad], not everything is sand and rocks, actually there’s lots of wildlife wherever you go. When we were doing the shore scramble, [I saw] fish, crabs and lots of cool things in the rock pools. You can find more wildlife than you think in one rockpool and under one rock, but the ocean is huge so I would like to see all the animals because no one has seen all of them before.
How did it feel when you had a handwritten letter back from David Attenborough? What was that feeling like?
It was really amazing, the reaction of everyone when I showed them was crazy because no one else in my school has got anything like this before. I remember I was coming home from England when my Gran phoned to tell me it had arrived. In the car, everyone started partying and we were playing songs because we were so happy it had arrived. We are now expecting another letter back [which] we think [has] arrived at our house right now.
Wishing Sir David a very Happy 100th Birthday from Ambassador Lewis and all of us at COAST!
Find the full interview with Lewis on our YouTube channel.