News
Last Day For Portland Coastguard SAR
After more than two decades in service the Portland Coastguard search and rescue helicopter ceased operations on Friday 30th June 2017, despite more than 100,000 people signing a petition to try to keep it open.
The Portland SAR helicopter base has performed rescues across the South West since 1995. The closure has come about because the MCA is being restructured, with a fleet of search and rescue helicopters operating from 10 bases.
The South Dorset MP Richard Drax had also spoken out against the closure of the base, “I watch their departure still very much with regret.”
There is little good news because Heli Operations (a company supplying trained helicopter personnel to companies worldwide) will be taking over the the Portland helicopter base site at Osprey Quay from 1st July 2017. This should mean that the base can provide a refuelling facility for the search and rescue helicopter.
The nearest SAR will now be located at the new £20m-helicopter base at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire. The MCA has reported this is 15 minutes flying time from Portland.
The Portland area will also have back-up from helicopters in Cornwall and South Wales.
Hear more from Roz at The Underwater Marketing Company Blog.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
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