About us

From planting seagrass and installing mooring systems that minimise damage to this vital habitat in the southwest of England, to successfully calling for a trawling ban in the southeast, we’re working hard to protect the incredible species and habitats in England's waters.

Our campaigning and beach clean litter data has seen the carrier bag charge introduced, as well as bans on single-use plastic items commonly found on our beaches, like plastic cotton buds, stirrers and straws. We successfully called for changes in wet wipe labelling and secured a ban on wet wipes containing plastic. By driving these policies, we’re helping to prevent litter from polluting English beaches and seas and ensure they’re cleaner and safer for people and wildlife. 

With drinks litter still plaguing our coasts, we’re continuing to call for a fully functioning Deposit Return Scheme where drinks containers can be collected, to be implemented before 2027. 

Much more needs to be done to help improve the health of seas around England and we will continue to push for more commitments on tackling single-use plastic, water quality, improved fisheries management and greater protection. 

We've been working to protect Scotland's seas for over 20 years, leading the Save Scottish Seas coalition to influence the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament on all matters marine. 

Our campaigning has been instrumental in achieving key policies to protect Scotland’s waters, such as the Marine (Scotland) Act, a National Marine Plan, and the need for a new fisheries strategy. We successfully called for bans on rinse-off microbeads and single-use plastics including cotton bud sticks, cutlery and straws, and helped secure commitment to a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers. 

We helped secure 36 new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and protections from damaging bottom-towed fishing gear for offshore MPAs and the most vulnerable inshore MPAs – a key step to safeguarding Scotland’s seas, which make up 62% of the UK’s MPAs.  

We’ve also been involved in active restoration of important species and helped establish pioneering restoration projects Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project and Restoration Forth which are reintoducing native (European flat) oysters, a superhero species, to Scottish seas.  

There is still more to do, and we will continue to put the recovery of Scotland's seas front and centre on all agendas. 

We’ve been working in Wales for almost 20 years, helping to secure protections in these special seas where warm and food-rich waters collide with colder ones.  

We’ve helped secure nationwide policy wins, including the UK’s first carrier bag charge, a ban on scalloping in vulnerable areas and the first Wales National Marine Plan, while our community engagement projects, such as Hiraeth Yn Y Môr and Natur Am Byth! have helped improve the understanding of and connection to the ocean in local communities. 

We’ve given evidence to numerous Welsh Government consultations and welcomed thousands of volunteers, including the First Minister, to beach cleans across the country. Numerous Senedd Members have signed up as marine species champions. 

Although half of the waters around Wales are technically protected, they are not thriving as they should be. Through our advocacy efforts, we’re working to influence the Welsh Parliament to ensure that marine protection is a priority and the nation’s seas are full of life. 

Since the early 2000s, we’ve been working in the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories of Anguilla, The Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands to drive marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management. 

We’ve been tracking turtles since 2005, when we first used satelite tagging to track a huge leatherback, to collect important information on where they nest, live and breed so we can campaign to protect their habitats.  

Our team has been working with local fishers and wider communities using the Community Voice Method, to gain insights and raise awareness of management measures that protect local wildlife in a way that supports the needs of locals.  

Alongside partners, we worked with communities in East Caicos to develop the East Caicos Community Vision Plan which will safeguard this biodiversity hotspot, while the Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan will help marine turtle populations in the Virgin Islands to recover. 

The Caribbean UKOTs are home to over 90% of the UK’s biodiversity, highlighting the importance of safeguarding species and habitats in them. Our focus is to support our Caribbean UKOT partners in improving management of their existing MPA networks and to emphasise to ministers in Westminster the need to support them.