@University of Lincoln: Marine Conservation Workshop

Greeting everyone,

As a part of University of Lincoln’s ‘Go Green week 2014’“, there were several activities to get ourselves involved in and being the Biobunch we strived to make them all one of which we particularly loved was a workshop run by the Marine Conservation Society UK.

The workshop was run by a really lovely and inspiring person called Karli. She is a certified Sea champion but we shall talk about this later. It all kicked off with the following quote...

Karli further described this quote by painting a wonderful image of our planet, stating that the seas, oceans, rivers and lakes make up the blue heart of our planet. And when ⅔ of the planet is made up of water it isn’t a hard image to imagine.

Marine conservation society workshops are made up of a series of interactive discussions and activities such as the ‘Timeline of degradation’  in which we were given a series of items such as paper, cardboard, cigarette butt, plastic bags, balloon, tin can, crisp packet, aluminium can, nappy (a clean one), fishing line, plastic bottle and glass. We had to organise it from the lowest-highest amount of time taken to degrade. And although we honestly thought  plastic bags was one of the longest to degrade it was actually!

GLASS!! (let us assure you though it is only glass because we are not sure how long it takes to degrade naturally and that plastic bags are still a MAJOR problem in marine conservation).

But this isnt all just fun and games, Karli then told us some pretty awesome facts that we will now startle you with!

DID YOU KNOW?

- The UK coastline is one of the largest in Europe at over 11,000 miles

- On average 1,500 items of litter are found for every km of beach surveyed in the UK .

- There are around 7,500 species in UK seas.

Why pollution is leading to an explosion of primitive life?

Warmer seas are on the increase as a cause of pollution, warmer waters have reduced oxygen levels which favour primitive life forms (such as jellyfish) rather than complex organisms (like whales, turtles, us and you). If you do not feel alarmed then think about this, if the waters continue to get warmer, you will have to become accustomed to the idea of jellyfish with chips!

It doesn't stop there...

Sea turtles are the prime predators of jellyfish, and increasing number of jellyfish is not only an indicator of rising water temperatures but also a worrying signal that the turtle population must be declining. The increasing presence of plastic bags in the ocean is a major factor in this declining number of turtles, they are unable to distinguish between a jellyfish or an upside down plastic bag. 

A lot of marine issues were highlighted in this session, a lot of upsetting images of animals caught in fishing nets, birds that have died from the continued consumption of plastic and countless animal deaths due to the presence of plastic in the water and overfishing of our oceans. However, Karli offered us some really good news, its not too late to help!  These solutions were presented at an organisation/world level but also on a personal level, changes that we could start making the moment we leave the door. 

Because we as individuals can help… A LOT!  

You can help!

- Like Karli become a Sea Champion

- Look for the sustainable fish symbol! 

- Follow campaigns to help spread the word, keep an eye out for your local Beach Watch or Break the bag habit!

And to top this amazing workshop we got A ‘FREE’ fish and chip dinner from Lincoln’s own ‘Mr.Chippy’ was which has been certified by MCS for having sustainable haddock! 

And if that wasn't enough! we got this:

After the workshop, we received a free book, a free ‘bag for life’, and marine conservation magazine copies.

So we hope that this has made you want to attend the a workshop hosted by this amazing organization, (not only for the free food) or maybe you would like to organize one of these events yourself! and we hope you do keep us updated if you guys do! Make sure you visit their website to hear more about their amazing conservation efforts!

@Biobunch.
Over and out.