Grantee: Blue Hope Alliance

Grant 1: £10,000, June 2021, 12 months

Grant 2: £15,000, October 2023, 12 months

Many Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) throughout Scotland lack sufficient management measures to protect the marine environment. In the Wester Ross MPA, for example, rare maerl and flameshell habitats are at risk from commercial dredging and trawling activities; there have been several cases of breaching the fisheries regulations here.

Underwater dive surveys allow changes in the MPA to be monitored, increasing our understanding of marine ecosystems and creating a suite of data to inform fisheries management.

The Project

The Blue Hope Alliance is a coalition in Wester Ross, Northwest Highlands. Founded in 2015, the alliance brings together a diverse range of organisations, from fishery boards to community groups, who share the common goal of improving the marine environment. They were instrumental in lobbying for the designation of the Wester Ross MPA (more here), and continue to carry out vital monitoring of the MPA through dive surveys. Working with volunteer divers, photo and video data of habitats such as maerl beds is collected, analysed, and shared with scientific agencies Simultaneously, they foster an increased awareness and appreciation for the unique underwater environment locally through storytelling, media, and art.

Images from surveys, courtesy of Blue Hope Alliance.

Project 1: Project Officer, £10,000

Through the employment of  Project Officer, the BHA were able to expand capacity beyond volunteers, allowing a dedicated staff member to compile, assess, and document existing and incoming survey resources and data. This could then be shared with the scientific community, through links with experts such as Professor Jason Hall Spencer of Plymouth University, the leading expert on maerl ecosystems.

Project 2: Surveys, Communication and Engagement; £15,000

The Project Officers expanded the volunteer citizen-science network through galvanizing new local groups to form. A series of 13 film and seaweed-pressing events across the Northwest showcased the rich world of undersea ecosystems, highlighting the threats faced and introducing the concept of citizen-science dive surveys. New groups formed in Loch Torridon, Kishorn and Applecross as a result of this outreach. For non-divers, the ‘Adopt a Bay’ initiative was launched in Achiltibuie, encouraging residents to become ‘custodians of a bay’ by collecting and pressing seaweeds.

Divers continued to survey several different maerl transects, as well as carrying out a week-long survey effort in the Summer Isles. Two new seaweed species were recorded and a large intact maerl bed was confirmed – with links to potential herring spawning grounds that are being further explored.

A film was produced for feature at the 12th World Wilderness Congress (WILD12) in South Dakota, in August 2024. This was a result of an invitation by the IUCN World Commission of Protected Areas (WCPA), as their only marine case study.

Collaboration was at the heart of the project, engaging with multiple marine scientists and Universities. This ensures the impact surveys and data collection are far reaching, contributing to crucial advances in the understanding of maerl habitats and influencing marine policy work in both national and international spheres.