The Wildlife Trust's North Sea Wildlife Project

Bernard the Gurnard visits the East Coast

On Saturday 6th August Bernard the Gurnard, The Wildlife Trusts voice for Marine Protected Areas visited the East Coast Seaweed Survey at Flamborough Head.

The Wildlife Trusts are working with partners to coordinate Seaweed East, a scheme which will see a team of surveyors exploring 11 locations from Essex to Northumberland.  Starting at Blackwater estuary in Essex, renowned marine biologists and Seasearch divers will work with a botanist and a wild food expert, spending an intensive period of 11 days exploring the locations, including several previously unsurveyed Wildlife Trust coastal nature reserves.  At each site, all species of seaweed will be recorded, and samples taken. 

The east coast is an under-surveyed section of the UK’s coastline, often due to the perception of the area being of little ecological importance. In fact, the North Sea supports two of England’s largest subtidal chalk reefs. It is hoped Seaweed East will provide vital evidence of the true variety of life this area supports. There are around 650 species of seaweed in the UK. They are a hugely versatile resource, used in food, medicines and cosmetics.  Seaweeds are equally important to marine life as they are to humans, providing food and habitat for creatures, such as the blue-rayed limpet which lives on kelp fronds.

Bernard the Gurnard joined the survey at Flamborough South Landing on Saturday the 6th August to help collect data.  Bernard the Gurnard is the new face and voice of The Wildlife Trusts’ ‘Petition Fish’ campaign. An online animation starring the character Bernard, a red gurnard, will be launched at the beginning of The Wildlife Trusts’ National Marine Week (Saturday 30 July - Sunday 14 August inclusive). Bernard is a fish frustrated by waiting for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) within the UK’s seas.  The animation tells the story of his plight to find a marine utopia in the form of his very own MPA, a refuge for him and the other sea creatures he lives with.  The animation contains a strong call to action - to support The Wildlife Trusts’ Petition Fish campaign. The aim of Petition Fish is to demonstrate public support for MPAs by gathering signatures online, by text, and at Wildlife Trust events.