The Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) offers grants to charities around the globe to carry out unique and innovative projects!
One such grant was given to the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) in support of their community seagrass project to engage local people in the South Arran Marine Protected Area’s seagrass beds. In 2019, our funding allowed an award winning camera man, Richard Shucksmith, to create visual resources about the marine life in Arran to share with the local community, visitors, and communities around Scotland.
We were also able to support the North Harris Trust in their creation of Scotland’s second ever snorkel trail on North Harris 2017 in partnership with Scottish Wildlife Trust. The snorkel trail locations were chosen carefully to include seagrass meadows and kelp forests with incredibly rich marine life which could be easily accessed offshore. The main reason to offer these trails was to involve local school children in connecting with their marine environment.
Learning that COAST and the Scottish Wildlife Trust have now created a snorkel trail around Arran, we are so excited that more people can experience this beautiful area and see marine wildlife in the UK.
Our charity’s work around Ocean connectedness has shown that providing opportunities for people to get in, enjoy and connect with our Ocean helps them make decisions to protect the Ocean in their daily lives. We believe that conservation begins with people and by sparking passion through our programmes and by supporting other charities, we hope more people will love the Ocean as much as us!
We love to see how our OCT grant projects develop over time and we are proud to be able to be part of the journey!
