Glimpse the stunningly beautiful underwater world beneath the waves in Wester Ross Marine Protected Area and see a small selection of marine scientist, Graham Saunder’s photos below. These were taken around the Summer Isles Archipelago during a Sea Change, SubSeaTV, SCFF (Keltic Seafare) Survey dive week (June 2-9th 2018). More films and photos showing the extraordinary footage are
To the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee (RECC) on Salmon Farming In Scotland
To consider the current state of the salmon industry in Scotland, identify opportunities for its future development and explore how the various fish health and environmental challenges it currently faces can be addressed. Response submitted by Sea Change Wester Ross to the committee on the 27th April 2017 (Please note the first section of this report summarises the
Waves of plastics in scarcely populated NW Scotland
This article follows a talk that I gave to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) when the Highland Environment Forum met on the 6th of September 2017. Firstly I’d like to explain what is known about the consequences of marine plastic pollution in the food chain, as well as to humans, from my review of the literature. I will then show the data I
Open letter to Roseanna Cunningham – sustainable local fisheries depend on pristine MPA
Dear Roseanna Cunningham, re: Sharing our concerns and response to SEPA’s Consultation on the ‘Regulation of Marine Cage Fish Farms: Updating the approach to protecting the sea bed’. Sea Change Wester Ross has voted as a group to oppose new or expanded fish farms in Wester Ross Marine Protected Area if the evidence suggests this would
Lochcarron Flame Shells : An Open Letter to Fergus Ewing & MS Conservation Team
Could the Lochcarron Flame Shell incident be a turning point for Scottish Seas? Dear Mr Ewing, I would like to add my voice to the many other voices along the coast such as coastal community groups, creel and dive fishermen, marine scientists, NGO’s, recreational divers and underwater cameramen. All have expressed concern about the damage to the
Drowning in Plastic
An Artist’s Four-Year Journey Through Scotland’s Marine Plastic To Holyrood’s MSPs. Before becoming a sculptor and installation artist, Julia Barton studied geography but it was her search for seaweed to study which took her to the remote Coigach peninsula. It was here in Wester Ross that she found herself on a local beach knee deep
Fergus Ewing’s response to our Appeal
Response from Fergus Ewing c/o Sebastian Howell on 25th April ( ref: 2017/0012203) Thank you for your letter of the 28th March 2017 to Fergus Ewing, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity regarding the Wester Ross MPA. I have been asked to respond on his behalf. First of all I would like to wish
Year One: march 2016-2017 Our MPA’s first year: small choices and simple actions, every day.
Cousteau made the oceans rock’n’roll! He made marine exploration exciting, cool and fun. That has to be our number one aim for 2017 as we embark on our second year of the Marine Protected Area and hopefully more sea bed surveys to start to build a picture and map our MPA. However it goes beyond that.
Open letter to Fergus Ewing (2017)
Dear Mr Ewing, Sea Change Wester Ross would like to draw your attention to our series of ‘Happy Birthday’ films made to celebrate Wester Ross Marine Protected Area’s first year. We are a local community marine conservation group set up to articulate public concern about the marine environment and encourage greater protection of the ecosystem.
Happy Birthday Wester Ross Marine Protected Area (Film three)
Celebrating and Safeguarding the Future of Our MPA The third in a series of three ‘Happy Birthday’ films dives deeper into the process of discovery within the Wester Ross MPA articulating our desire to preserve the MPA’s ‘umbrella effect’ as outlined in the two previous films. We explore highlights of the MPA, discovering some still intact and unrecorded maerl