The Beach Shack Project specialises in handmade unique pieces of jewellery made from flotsam and Jetsam. Sea glass, old Victorian pottery shards, driftwood, nylon, monofilament, plastic, shells and stones all make up the unusual components used in each design.

Although the beach is a great place to source new objects and inspiration, the items gathered whilst beachcombing can also pose a threat to the coastal eco system. For example, huge tumbleweed sized balls of monofilament, discarded by fisherman or thrown over board can be an unfortunate end for any bird or fish unlucky to become entangled. They are also un-biodegradable, so can become a very permanent feature on the beaches. These tangled balls are collected and laboriously unraveled, unknotted, and even reknotted until the nylon is left in workable strands. These balls are then washed thoroughly in antibacterial soap so they are squeaky-clean and then ready to design with.

I can find working with found materials limiting, but this can result in an unusual creative output. It makes you really think about what you are using, because you work with what you find.

Currently, here at the Beach Shack Project we are working with Surfers Against Sewage by donating a percentage of profits from the reclaimed nylon range of jewellery to their campaign.

Surfers Against Sewage is a campaign group set up by surfers who wanted to use clean safe oceans. One of their missions is to reduce “Marine Litter” which is a problem for the wildlife and the many diverse groups of people who use the sea for recreational sport.

15% from the sale price of each piece of reclaimed nylon jewellery goes to the group and most of the pieces available are one offs. To see the range available please visit
www.beachshackproject.bigcartel.com/category/surfers-against-sewage-promo

Currently, there is also 50% off the other lines in the store until the end of January to make way for new stock. Please login to www.beachshackproject.co.uk for more information and to access the discount code. And there is also a fabulous necklace giveaway too, win a handmade organic hemp knitted fisherman’s rope necklace with a chunky bottle green sea glass pendant.

Article by Hannah Marshall
www.beachshackproject.co.uk

Lyme Bay Reefs on the Devon / Dorset coast is one of the UK’s finest marine wildlife sites and thanks to a successful campaign conducted by the Wildlife Trusts in conjunction with excellent support from members of the public, an area of 60sq miles has been protected from commercial scallop dredging.

I first reported about the Save Lyme Bay Reefs campaign in the posts titled ‘Help save the seaside’ and I would like to thank any GGG readers who supported the campaigning by signing the petition and or writing to Defra.

The Wildlife Trusts have been campaigning for a 60sq mile exclusion zone around Lyme Bay reefs , since concern was highlighted, in the early 1990s, by divers who observed damage to some areas. Survey work by Devon and Dorset Wildlife Trusts has shown that scallop-dredging is damaging the reefs and that time is running out for their preservation.

Lyme Bay is home to around 300 recorded species of plants and animals, including dense populations of the nationally protected pink seafan and the extremely rare sunset coral. As well as a haven for sponges, starfish and coral, the reefs also support a range of seafood animals, including crab, lobster and scallops.

Talking about the success Paul Gompertz, Devon Wildlife Trust’s director, said:

“This is one small step for marine but one giant leap for marine-kind. It finally acknowledges that our seas need vital life-support systems like Lyme Bay reefs. It’s taken 18 years, hundreds of thousands of fundraised pounds, the energy and dedication of many people – and a host of setbacks and heartache along the way. But it has all been worth it – to see a new day dawn for the future of marine conservation in this country. The Government is to be congratulated on a bold step. Now we need to see the exclusions enforced.”

Important Marine Sites

World wide there are a range of important wildlife marine sites that require urgent protection. Whilst it may appear a daunting task to get such sites protected, I think that if conservation organisations work in partnership with one another, engage members of public into the campaigns and lobby MP’s face to face then we can truly save our seas.

Photo Sources

Lyme Bay by North Light: Source Flickr

Scallops by Rory MacNish: Source Marine Photobank

I’m back! Regular GGG readers may have noticed that it has been some time since I wrote a post for this fantastic blog and I would like to apologise for that. However I hope that you will forgive me as I have been in the middle of selling my house and relocating. Whilst I have lots of interesting news that I could post on GGG, I thought that I would start off by providing you all with an update about the Marine Bill Campaign.

Marine and Coastal Access Bill

After extensive campaigning from a wide range of environmental and conservation organisations the UK Government has included the Marine Bill (now called the Marine and Coastal Access Bill) in its draft legislative programme. This is absolutely fantastic news for the environment and marine life, however before we all get excited I would like to highlight that whilst there is a strong indication that it will be mentioned in the Queens speech (and thus be brought forward to Parliament) there is no guarantee.

Good – but could be better

I have read a couple of different summary documents for the Marine and Coastal Access Bill (not yet had time to read the whole draft Bill in great detail) and from what I can gather and what marine experts have informed me (including Lisa Chilton the Marine Development Manager at the Wildlife Trust) the Bill is good but could be a lot better. For example there is concern over the following points:

§ There seems to be too much emphasis on economic development (in terms of tourism, commerce etc) as opposed to protecting the environment and marine life.

§ Under the new rules some damaging activities such as dredging may be exempt from licensing. Also oil and gas licensing will continue under The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) rather than the Marine Management Organisation (MMO)

§ It appears that there is not a duty on the Secretary of State to designate Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) which is appalling. The Marine Bill should enforce the duty to designate MCZ’s not just a power to designate.

Going Forward

A joint Committee of the House of Commons and the House of Lords has been established to scrutinize the draft Bill. As a member of the public you can provide your views and comments on the draft Bill by writing to Defra before 26^th June 2008.

I will be writing my response and I hope that GGG readers will too. In order to gain the full picture I highly recommend that you read the full, draft Marine Bill and accompanying notes which is available to download by clicking here.

After reading the draft Bill please send your comments to:

Marine Bill TeamDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsArea 2C Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

I will keep you posted about the Marine and Coastal Access Bill including updates about specific important marine sites such as Lyme Bay Reefs.

Firstly,  some GGG readers may have noticed that I have not been blogging for awhile and this is due to a building company cutting though my broadband internet and phone wires – thus whilst I am waiting for this problem to be sorted I have struggled to be online much.

However I have stayed late at work tonight to get at least one post up on GGG.  In response to the lovely comments left on some of my posts – I promise that I will reply soon and also provide updates about my Environmental Studies,  New Year Pledges and Veganism etc.

In the mean time here is an update about the Save Lyme Bay Reefs campaign that I have been involved in and which I reported about in the post ‘Help Save the Seaside’

So far:

* More than 8,000 people sent campaign postcards to the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn,  asking the Government to protect the full 60 square miles of the reef.

* More than 3,000 people signed the online petition.

* To date, 59 MPs have signed the Early Day Motion on Lyme Bay.

* Oliver Letwin led a debate in the House of Commons, supporting the Wildlife Trusts  position.

* Approximately 90 consultation responses were submitted to Defra.

Coastal Management

When managing coastal areas such as Lyme Bay it is extremely important to not only ensure that the environment is protected,  but also that the needs of the population and also economy is taken into consideration too.

Do you think that you could do this?

A fun and great way to test your ability of effective Coastal Management is through the Open Universities and BBC’s Coastal Manager Game – click here to have a go.

Edinburgh MP Mark Lazarowicz has introduced a new Bill titled The Environmental Protection (Transfers at Sea) Bill, which if introduced would improve the regulation of ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other hazardous cargos throughout UK seas, thus helping to protect the UK’s marine habitats and wildlife from potential oil spills.

Why is the Bill needed?

Ship-to-ship (STS) transfer is a process by which cargo is transferred between ships at anchor, this includes oil! The transfer of oil currently takes place at Scapa Flow Orkney) and Sullum Voe (Shetland).

However what is very worrying is that there are new proposed STS sites around the UK including include Falmouth Harbour (Cornwall), Southwold (Suffolk), the Firth of Forth (SE Scotland) and Nigg Bay (NE Scotland). Lyme Bay (Devon/Dorset) (remember that Lyme Bay is already suffering from commercial scallop dredging as reported in the post titled ‘Help save the seaside’)

Currently, STS operations are insufficiently regulated. The UK Department of Transport (which is responsible for shipping matters) has failed to fulfil repeated promises to introduce stronger measures.

Mark Lazarowicz’s Bill would require the Secretary of State for Transport to bring in new regulations controlling STS transfer of cargos, including strict safeguards to protect our seas and sea life. STS transfer is not addressed by the forthcoming Marine Bill (which I wrote about in the post titled Can we have the Bill please’) , so separate legislation is necessary and extremely important.

Please act now

The Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons will take place on 25 January and as this is  a make-or-break time for the Bill, the Wildlife Trust is urging people to email their MP asking him / her to support the Bill and attend the debate on 25^th January.

4 simple steps to help secure the bill

1)  Visit www.theyworkforyou.com and type in your postcode to locate your MP.

2) Click on ‘Send a message to…’.

3) Write a short message in your own words, using the following notes to help you:

- The Environmental Protection (Transfers at Sea) Bill, introduced by Mark Lazarowicz MP, would improve the regulation of ship-to-ship transfers of oil and other hazardous cargos throughout UK seas.

-This would allow strict controls on ship-to-ship transfers, helping to protect the
UK’s marine and coastal habitats and wildlife from potentially catastrophics spills.

-The Bill’s Second Hearing is on 25 January.

-More information about the Bill can be found on Mark Lazarowicz’s website: www.marklazarowicz.org.uk

4) Email the Wildlife Trust Marine team marine(at)wildlifetrusts.org to let them know that you have done it and please put STS as the subject and let them know who your MP is.

Attention non UK citizen’s whilst you wont be able to do the above steps I see no harm in you contacting Mark Lazarowicz and offering support to this Bill, his contact information can be found on his website.

Thank you

“We all love to be beside the seaside” and that’s actually official!  The Wildlife Trust conducted a survey in which 1,200 UK citizens took part and over one third of them chose a day at the seaside as their favourite leisure activity.

With this in mind, I’m sure that all of you who love to be beside the seaside will want to help protect some of the finest areas of coastline that we have for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Lyme Bay

A coastal area that needs immediate support is Lyme Bay on the Devon / Dorset coast in England.

Lyme Bay is one of Britain’s finest sites for marine wildlife. It consists of reefs which are a haven for corals, sponges and starfish in fact the reefs are home to over 300 recorded species of plants and animals, including dense populations of the nationally protected pink seafan and the extremely rare sunset coral.   Both species are national priority species under the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).

The Seafood industry

As well as being home to a range of rare species, Lyme Bay also hosts a range of species used for seafood (i.e. crab, lobster, scallops etc). Thus it is a popular fishing location for commercial fishermen.  However gone are the days when fishermen use the traditional method of potting or diving to catch seafood such as scallops.  No, instead all in the name of demand and profit, the fishermen use a technique called dredging.

Scallop dredging

Scallop dredging involves using a dredge that consists of a metal frame with spring-loaded teeth to which a chain-mesh bag is attached.  The dredge is towed over seabed habitats, where the teeth rake the seabed disturbing the scallops.  This gear is extremely robust and can be used over much harder grounds than traditional trawls.  As a consequence, scallop dredges can severely damage other seabed organisms and habitats.

To see footage of scallop dredging please click here.

Dredging at Lyme Bay

Lyme Bay Reefs support rich and varied biological communities of national importance. However scallop dredging destroys both seabed species and the habitats on which they depend.

There is hope though as these marine species can potentially recover, provided that disturbance to habitat is not too extreme.  This is why the Wildlife Trust wants a ban on scallop dredging within a specific 60 square mile of Lyme Bay Reefs.

Talking about Lyme Bay Reefs Paul Gompertz, Devon Wildlife Trust’s director recently said:

“The reefs are the undersea equivalent of the rainforests and closure of Lyme
Bay Reefs to dredging is essential if we are to stop their destruction.  Lyme Bay Reefs is one of the best-studied areas of seabed off the entire UK coast, and the scientific and economic data point very clearly to the only sustainable option: closure of the reefs to scallop dredging.  If the Government fails to make the right choice here, it bodes very badly for the protection of other important – but less-studied – sites.”

History of protecting Lyme Bay Reefs

Devon Wildlife Trust has been studying the reefs for 15 years and, along with The Wildlife Trusts, has campaigned for their protection. During the 1990s, Devon WT worked with the local fisherman and negotiated a voluntary agreement in 2001 to stop scallop dredging in two parts of the Bay.

This agreement broke down last year demonstrating the need for a statutory approach. Natural England subsequently called upon The Department for Agriculture and Fishing (Defra), with the backing of The Wildlife Trusts to introduce an order to stop the damaging activity.

Defra’s Lyme Bay Reefs Consultation

In response to Natural England and the Wildlife Trusts request to stop scallop dredging within a specific 60 mile square mile of Lyme Bay, Defra has written a consultation letter and have been asking for feedback – to view the letter please click here.

The Wildlife Trust has responded to the consultation advising that the only real option in which to protect Lyme Bay Reefs and its marine wildlife is option C “Exclude the use of all towed gear, by either SFC Byelaw or Order, in the 60 square mile area originally proposed by English Nature in May 2006.”

The original deadline for submitting a response to the consultation was the 12^th December, however Defra have extended the deadline to the 21^st December.

You can help – but please act now

The good news is that you can help to protect the beautiful and diverse Lyme Bay Reefs and the marine wildlife that depends on it through just two simple steps (which should take less than 5 minutes!)

1) Email Defra explaining that option C in the consultation is the only realistic choice to protect this beautiful and diverse area of the ocean.

Please click here to download an example of an email that you can send to Defra (Choose the save option as opposed to just opening it)

Even if you do not live in the UK, then I think that you should still email Defra raising your concerns and asking them to chose option C.

2) Email your MP asking them to sign the Lyme Bay Early Day Motion.

To find out who your MP is and how to contact them please click here.

Once you have checked who your MP is click here to see if they have already signed the EDM.

Together we can make a difference

Remember we all love to be beside the seaside and if we all work together we can make a difference to marine habitats and the world!

What name do you give a whale? Mister Splashy Pants of course!

For those who are wondering what I am talking about, cast your minds back to my post titled A whale by any other name…in October, when I reported that Greenpeace had launched a competition to name a whale.

Apparently over 11,000 submissions were entered, which were narrowed down to 30 and then it was up to the public to vote. Of those 30 short listed names, 150,000 (over 78 percent) voted Mister Splashy Pants as their favourite.

However now that the humpback whale has been named, he needs your help! He might have a great name but he and his friends are still in danger. The only way to be 100 percent sure that ‘Splashy’ doesn’t get harpooned is to stop killing all whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

You can help Mister Splashy Pants and all of the other whales by clicking here and signing Greenpeace’s petition calling upon the Japanese Fisheries Agency to promise not to kill Mister Splashy Pants.

Come on GGG readers let’s save Splashy Pants !

It is easy to be dazzled by science. Science is, well, cool. It is about discovery, knowledge, exploration, and the undeniable human compulsion to poke at the unknown. And, as with every cool thing in the universe–we should reject the poor and irresponsible attempts, in favor of recognizing and defending the good and the responsible. It is true for consumer products, true for laws and lawmakers, true for nonprofits, businesses, and initiatives. It is also true for science.

This is not to, er, poop on science. This is to call attention to the difference between responsible, sound science and, um, the alternative. There are numerous efforts to promote and defend responsible science, and here I call your attention to two:

First, DEFEND SCIENCE (www.defendscience.org). A letter to President Bush from over 6,000 scientists asking that scientific inquiry remain free from political, religious, ideological constraints. While policital, religious, and ideological views are important pieces of the human experience, they should not dictate, strangle or direct scientific inquiry.

Second, a more personal project, SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE SCIENCE in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This pristine, remote, and highly protected archipelago is one of the last predator-dominated coral reef ecosystems on earth. Scientific research conducted in the public trust land and waters of these islands should be done in a way that supports conservation of the ecosystem and minimizes impacts of research activities. You can show US and Hawaii agencies that citizens around the globe care about the world heritage coral reefs in Hawaii, by signing on to the responsible science petition here.

Good, responsible and sound science is integral to envisioning and creating a better, greener world! Support the scientists and researchers that are doing this good work. I encourage you to take a few seconds in direct action–lend your voice and support and defend good science!

Knowledge is power. This is why I have started an Open University degree in Environmental Studies.  Through the various modules I will gain a deeper understanding of environmental issues and the science behind them.  This knowledge will then hopefully provide me with the credentials and power to become proactively involved in tackling environmental and conservation issues.  This weekend I have started studying the first module, ‘Life in the Oceans: Exploring the Blue Planet’ and I find it absolutely fascinating.  This module explores the challenges of living in the oceanic environment, and how marine organisms have adapted to cope with the changes.  It also looks at how to tackle global overfishing, which I am very interested in as I have been campaigning for a Marine Bill.  Through GGG I will keep you posted about my progress with this degree and I will also share some interesting environmental scientific research / findings with you.

I met Captain Charlie back in 2001. He was going around to various meetings, with a couple of pages of bullet points, and talking to anyone who would listen about the large amounts of small plastic bits he was finding on his trans-pacific sailing trips. He started throwing out a net, and counting up the plastic that he found. He found kids to sift through sand and count the small pieces of plastic on our beaches. In this way, over the course of years, this individual citizen continued the drumbeat about our increasingly plastic ocean. Every piece of plastic we produce–the plastic cup we use for one drink, the plastic tampon applicator, the plastic grocery bag–is with us forever.

For many years, people said, “Well, they’re small pieces, they don’t matter.” Or “Plastics photodegrade.” Or “The plastic industry is too powerful.” And “We can talk about recycling, but we can’t talk about reducing plastic use.”

This week, Captain Charlie was featured on US nationally broadcast morning show, the Today Show. In just a few short years, he has helped transform the cause of plastics in our ocean and the call for reducing our plastic use from a radical idea to one so mainstream that Matt Lauer is talking about it.

I post this not simply to call your attention to the problem of plastics in our oceans, but also to illustrate that the path from radical leads to the commonly-accepted. Never be afraid to speak out, to be a radical in the world. Yesterday’s radical is tomorrow’s bandwagon. Individuals citizens can, and do, change the world!

See video of Charlie on the Today Show.

For Mac users, you need to use Firefox instead of Safari to see.

Photos in this post from AMRF (www.algalita.org).