News
A golden opportunity or a broken promise? Government’s chance to secure future health of UK’s struggling seas

Marine Conservation Society calls for ambitious policy as Fisheries Bill returns to the Commons
The new Fisheries Bill is a prime opportunity for the UK Government to put in place policies which support the future health of the UK’s seas. The Marine Conservation Society is urging politicians and policymakers to put sustainability and science at the forefront of future fisheries management and retain the inclusion of key amendments in the Fisheries Bill as it returns to the House of Commons on 1st September 2020.
The charity believes crucial amendments in two areas of the Bill must remain: environmental sustainability as the prime objective of the Bill, and a commitment to rolling out Remote Electronic Monitoring with cameras (REM) on all vessels fishing in UK waters.
The Marine Conservation Society’s recent campaign, ‘Say No to Red Rated Seafood’, garnered over 13,000 signatures from the public who want unsustainable, ‘red rated’ seafood to become a thing of the past. The petition calls on UK government and business to improve the fate of unsustainable fisheries for the future health of UK seas, the Fisheries Bill is a golden opportunity to do just that.
The charity’s 2018 campaign ‘May Not Contain Fish’ further shows the public’s support for ambitious and sustainable legislation. Almost 19,000 people responded to the UK Government’s consultation on post-Brexit fisheries management and called for sustainability to be at the heart of new legislation. The UK Fisheries Bill is an opportunity to develop legislation which responds to the public’s call for a sustainable future for the UK’s fisheries and delivers on government promises.
In a survey conducted by Rakuten, 75% of UK respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Protecting the health of the environment should be a priority for governments and the public”. In a landscape shaped by the environmental impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, the public wants to see government committed to putting the health of the environment first.
A truly green recovery from the pandemic will secure a healthy environment for future generations, bringing economic benefits with it. The recovery of fish stocks to healthy levels would increase the value of fish landings significantly, resulting in an estimated 5,000 new jobs. Healthy seas full of life bring with them economic gain for those reliant upon the UK’s blue resources for employment and income. Ensuring the Fisheries Bill is led by sustainability is the first step towards a fruitful green and blue recovery.
Sandy Luk, CEO of the Marine Conservation Society: “Undeniably, our seas are struggling and the UK public wants solutions. Governments have failed to meet 2020 deadlines to end overfishing and so we can no longer accept “business as usual’ and short-term thinking from our leaders. The new Fisheries Bill, with these important amendments, would mark the start of progressive new management that would finally allow the recovery of our important fisheries resources.
“The Fisheries Bill is a prime opportunity for governments to show their commitment to a healthy and well-protected ocean for the future. Without sustainability as the prime objective, the UK Government will miss its chance to achieve its promise of truly sustainable fisheries.”
The Fisheries Bill will return to the House of Commons on 1st September 2020 for its Second Reading stage.
To keep up to date and learn more about the Marine Conservation Society’s key asks, please visit www.mcsuk.org.
Marine Life & Conservation
Jeff chats to… Veronica Cowley, a contestant in the See You at the Sea Festival Film Competition (Watch Video)

In this exclusive Zoom interview, Jeff Goodman, Scubaverse Editor-at-large, chats to Veronica Cowley, a contestant in the See You at the Sea Festival Film Competition. The See you at the Sea Festival was an online film festival created by young people, for young people.
Veronica’s film – Worse things Happen at Sea – can be seen here:
Sixth and final in a series of six videos about the competition. Watch the first video HERE with Jenn Sandiford – Youth Engagement Officer with the Your Shore Beach Rangers Project and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust – to find out more about the Competition. Each day this week will be sharing one video in which Jeff talks with the young contestants about their films and what inspired them.
For more information please visit:
- Project website: www.beachrangers.com
- Cornwall Wildlife Trust: www.cornwallwildlifetrust.com
- Cornwall College: www.cornwall.ac.uk
- Our Bright Future: www.ourbrightfuture.co.uk
News
Peli proud to support COVID-19 vaccine distribution

We know Peli from its popular camera cases, but from discovery to distribution, Peli’s temperature-controlled packaging is now delivering COVID-19 vaccines all over Europe and the Middle East
With the pandemic recovery just underway, COVID-19 vaccines and therapies are rapidly becoming available for use and they must be safely distributed worldwide, within their required temperature range. Peli’s BioThermal™ division is providing temperature-controlled packaging to meet this critical moment, protecting these crucial payloads.
Peli’s innovative cold chain packaging has been trusted for nearly 20 years by pharmaceutical manufacturers to safely ship their life-saving products around the world. To meet the current challenge, they have adapted their existing products to provide deep frozen temperatures when required for the newly developed life sciences materials. Current and new offerings will ensure the cold chain is maintained throughout the vaccine or therapy’s journey, maximising efficacy and patient health.
“We know that pharmaceutical companies are in all phases of the development process for vaccines and therapeutics and working tirelessly to bring safe and effective drug products to market quickly,” said Greg Wheatley, Vice President of Worldwide New Product Development and Engineering at Peli BioThermal. “Our engineering team matched this urgency to ensure they have the correct temperature-controlled packaging to meet them where they’re at in drug development for the pandemic recovery, from discovery to distribution.”
Peli BioThermal’s deep frozen products use phase change material (PCM) and dry ice systems to provide frozen payload protection with durations from 72 hours to 144+ hours. Payload capacities range from 1 to 96 litres for parcel shippers and 140 to 1,686 litres for pallet shippers.
New deep-frozen solutions are ideal for short-term vaccine storage, redirect courier transport of vaccines from freezer farm hubs to immunisation locations and daily vaccine replenishment to remote and rural areas.
Peli BioThermal temperature-controlled packaging is currently being used to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, either directly or through global transportation providers, in Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the UK as well as in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, with more countries set to join the list as the pandemic recovery process rolls out.
To learn more about the wide range of deep frozen Peli BioThermal shippers, visit Peli.com and PeliBioThermal.com for more information.
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