Since the creation of the No Take Zone in 2008, COAST started to receive requests for support from other Scottish communities that wanted to protect their coastal areas from dredging, trawling or salmon farming.
COAST started a partnership with Flora and Fauna International in 2014, realising that each community had to lead its own way and needed bespoke support tailored to their own priorities and context. This is how Kerri Whiteside came on board as Project Manager for the Scotland Marine Community Support Project. In the last 4 years, the network has grown from 6 to 13 coastal communities. Rebecca Plant has joined the team as Marine Project Officer, and is the one behind the network’s website Communities for the Seas and newsletters that bring relevant and timely information to our groups, most of them volunteer-based. As well as support and sharing of resources between groups, the network has a number of supporting and associated organisations, including most key marine stakeholders in Scotland.
