Cornwall Wildlife Trust works to protect Cornwall's seas in three ways;
- we collect data on marine wildlife
- we create awareness of the threats to marine life
- we campaign for better protection for our marine species and habitats.
The Trust gathers data on the marine seabed and species through Seasearch diving surveys. The Trust collects sightings of larger marine animals that visit our waters, such as dolphins, turtle and whales through the Seaquest Southwest project.
As Cornwall is a renowned hot-spot for basking sharks, we have recently embarked on a new project; the Seaquest Basking Shark Project to help us to protect these wonderful sharks for the future.
Cornwall sadly receives the highest numbers of dead dolphin strandings each year. In response to this we established the Marine Strandings Network to record these animals and retrieve them for post mortem examination.
The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust is running a Marine Biodiversity Project, working with the local community to learn more about the special marine habitats of Scilly.
The data collected through all of these projects is shared with the Finding Sanctuary project which is developing a network of Marine Protected Areas in the Southwest. The data is also used to create awareness about the threats to marine wildlife and to campaign for better protection. Our seas lack the legislation they need to adequately protect them.
We will continue to put pressure on the Government to produce a Marine Bill which provides the necessary protection to ensure our marine wildlife can recover and thrive.
