Happy Birthday Wester Ross Marine Protected Area – we love you!

We love Wester Ross MPA and it is shortly to have its first birthday on the 23rd of March 2017! To celebrate Sea Change have made three films to share our appreciation of the MPA and to encourage support for it’s protection and recovery.

The first film gives people an underwater glimpse of the unique and beautiful marine world of Wester Ross. It shows us the ways in which this fragile environment can be threatened and explains why its protection benefits both visitors and the local community.

The footage came from the dive survey tests in August 2016. The initial survey and resulting films were made possible by collective efforts of Sea Change members, combined with the help and participation of people from the wider local community and beyond.

Sea Change organised this underwater survey as a pilot test for a much more ambitious mapping of the MPAs marine environment. We hope to undertake this as an inclusive citizen science project, inviting everyone who shares our curiosity and excitement to take part in this process of discovery.

A very special thank you goes to the dedicated cameraman Andy Jackson from SubSea TV and Ali Hughson (Keltic Seafare & Scottish Creel Fishermen Federation) for his generosity in providing the boat and back up divers. A big thanks also to Sarah Dolmen from The Whale and Dolphin Conservation for supplying the beautiful dolphin footage as well as Donald Rice for funding Andy’ Jackson’s trip to Wester Ross and helping with the preparation of these films. And a huge thank you to WRASFB (Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board) who funded Tom Nicholl who kindly edited these films. The survey was also supported by Ken Walton who helped Ali as a support skipper and Bill Wilder who offered his boat and himself as a skipper for two days. This generous help was given in support of the MPA and it allows Sea Change to explore possibilities for shared journeys of discovery and recovery within the MPA. Success truly is a collective effort. Thank you to everyone who played a part big and small! Please feel free to support our next survey, or join us if you agree with our aims, all are welcome.

Leave a Reply