INTRODUCTION TO OUR LIVING SEAS

The UK has a fabulously rich marine life, with many diverse habitats from estuary and mudflat, to high-rise clifftop and craggy coastline. It is home to the world’s second biggest fish - the plankton-eating basking shark - stunning coral gardens and that master of camouflage, the cuttlefish.

Featherstar and kelp © Paul Naylor

Britain and Ireland serve as summer feeding grounds for whales, including minke whales, pilots and orcas, and as a year-round habitat for dolphins and porpoises. As well as the bottlenose dolphin, the white-beaked, common, Atlantic white-sided and Risso’s dolphin are also seen off our coasts.

Marine conservation is an essential part of the work of The Wildlife Trusts, and brings a number of challenges. It is very different from land-based action - we cannot buy the seabed and declare it a reserve; we cannot send teams of volunteers with cutters and bowsaws to prune back a kelp forest; and we cannot let lose "herds" of limpets to graze on an algal meadow!

Marine conservation will only succeed if wider measures are employed. Our role must be that of watchdog, lobbyist and partnership builder, working with Government, regulators, industry and the public. Our marine environment is precious and must be protected for the future - we cannot allow our seas to die.

Joan Edwards
The Wildlife Trusts' head of Living Seas