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Marine Life & Conservation

Shark-Filled Bundles of Fun for all the Family this Summer

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Need some inspiration on what to do with the kids this summer holiday? Got shark-mad people at home that are eager for activities and challenges? Grab an activity bundle this summer and have fun as you learn about some of the ocean’s most iconic animals – Sharks and Rays!

The Shark Trust has partnered with national award-winning outdoor education provider – The Great Out-tours – to produce an exciting range of educational resources. With sharks and rays as the inspiration. From beach-combing to craft challenges, these bundles of fun will provide hours of guided learning for children and adults alike.

Transport your children / adults in care settings, to the magical kingdom of these deep ocean dwellers! These bundles will ignite a spirit of curiosity, exploration and inspiration, to learn about & protect the sharks of our seas.

We are delighted to be working in close partnership with Shark Trust, to help safeguard the future of sharks & rays, through education. We have produced illuminating shark and ray themed activity bundles, designed to fill your families with wild fun and learning, both outdoors and in! We think you’ll really enjoy yourselves making, doing & foraging, whilst helping the conservation efforts for these amazing creatures?

My personal passion for sharks and rays, drives our focus within the activity bundles, to create positive learning about these fantastic fish, and provide ideas for you to get everyone out, about and connected with the ocean! Within the activities, we highlight the crucial role sharks and rays play in marine ecosystems and think you/your children will be inspired to want to protect them and safeguard their future’s!” John Brooksbank, Founder of The Great Out-tours

Learning about sharks and rays is a great way to get everyone connected with the ocean. You can have fun as you learn, either at home, down the park, or on the beach. The activity bundles give families the opportunity to partake in a shared experience, working together to complete the tasks and activities, learning about amazing sharks along the way.

We know there’s an appetite for more good quality shark-themed activities. Partnering with The Great Out-tours has been a great way for us to provide our supporters and shark fans with fun and exciting new ways to discover and connect with sharks and rays.” Paul Cox, MD, Shark Trust

Packed with things to do both when the sun is shining or if you are stuck indoors on a rainy day, the activity bundles have something to get your teeth into, including crafting, puzzles, educational videos, and outdoor fun at the beach or in the garden.

“Everything was so easy to follow and with resources available to download, it meant that you could quite easily get on with things. Even my 2-year-old got involved with the activities!n

The boys also really enjoyed the online jigsaw puzzles and word searches associated with each activity. Actually, I think Mummy rather enjoyed those too!”  Laura, Parent of four boys of varying primary ages


Shark Bundle Information

SHARKS & RAYS BUNDLE (Priced at £3.50):

The Sharks and Rays bundle contains 4 themes each with a range of activities and resources. Each theme ends with a family quiz and completion of the bundle qualifies you for a reward.

Jaw dropping fun!

  • Using sharks and rays as the inspiration, they’ve crammed this bundle full of fun educational activities, targeted at primary/secondary children and adults in care and domestic home settings.
  • At home, in the garden, on a walk, in the park, or on the beach: From beachcombing to craft challenges, these resources will provide hours of guided learning. As well as mental/physical and social enrichment for children and adults.
  • Tasty treats: 4 main shark and ray ‘headline’ themes are supported with a tasty suite of activities that include age specific wordsearches, puzzles, ‘eye-opening’ educational video clips and a wildly fun family/care home quiz challenge!
  • Fintastic Learning! Each activity has curriculum and life enrichment linkage with risk-assessed educational resources.
  • Rays the roof! Complete your sharks and rays bundle and receive a certificate/reward. The Great Out-tours and Shark Trust would love you to picture share your crafting creations!
  • Bitesize budget? The Sharks and Rays bundle costs £3.50, with a 50p donation from each registration going to the Shark Trust.

Click on the link below to sign up for and buy the Sharks and Rays Bundle:

https://thegreatout-tours.com/product/sharks-and-rays-bundle/

Mini Shark Bundles (Priced at £1)

Great Egg-Case Hunt

Join us on a magical adventure, as we explore the exciting world of egg-laying sharks and skates. You’ll be heading to the beach for a spot of field-work and finding out what you can do to help protect these incredible animals…

Click on the link below to sign up for and buy The Great Eggcase Hunt bundle.

https://thegreatout-tours.com/product/the-great-eggcase-hunt-bundle/

Thresher Sharks

Discover the super agile, fish-herding, thresher sharks. Made up of 3 different species. With a tail like a whip to stun prey, thresher sharks can stir up dinner at lightning speed!

Click on the link below to sign up for and buy the Thresher Shark bundle.

https://thegreatout-tours.com/product/thresher-shark-bundle/


For more information about the work of the Shark Trust: https://www.sharktrust.org/

For more information about The Great Out-tours: https://thegreatout-tours.com/

Marine Life & Conservation

New report shows simple measures needed to cut beach plastic pollution

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The Marine Conservation Society has launched its annual State of our Beaches 2023 report, highlighting the need for less single-use plastic items and more refillable options.

The charity’s beach cleaning programme, now in its 30th year, asks volunteers to record all litter that they find within a 100-metre stretch of beach. By gathering vital data from across the UK and Channel Islands, the charity creates change for cleaner seas and a healthier planet through policy and industry change. Last year, over 148 kilometres of beach were surveyed by volunteers, who removed 17,208kgs of litter from our coast.

Using data collected by over 14,000 volunteers, the State of our Beaches 2023 report shows that half of all litter collected came from public sources – either dumped, blown or washed onto our beaches.

Drinks-related litter, such as plastic bottles, caps and cans were one of the most found items, with an average of 16 found per 100 metres of beach surveyed. This figure is up 14% compared to the charity’s 2022 report.

Plastics caps and lids were recorded on 89% of surveys, with over 30,000 found in total. Plastic bottles were also commonly collected, with 73% of surveys finding this single-use item – a 4% increase compared to 2022. The charity’s inland litter pick survey, Source to Sea, also reported finding plastic bottles on 92% of cleans.

However, the charity’s State of Our Beaches 2023 report also indicates that some types of litter are on a downward trend. Although still in the top 10 litter items, disposable plastic cutlery, trays and straws were found on 5% fewer beaches across the UK, showing that bans on these plastic items between 2022 – 2023 could be working. The presence of plastic cotton bud sticks also dropped by 14%.

Lizzie Price, Beachwatch Manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said, “Half of the litter found on our beaches originates from public sources, underscoring the pressing issue of single-use plastic. Evidence shows that refillable alternatives and litter return schemes effectively reduce rubbish, as demonstrated by the decline our data has shown in items like plastic bags and disposable cutlery.

“Urgent and decisive action from UK governments is needed to accelerate our shift towards a circular economy, where we reuse, repair and recycle. The public needs greater access to refillable products and systems need to be implemented in which manufacturers are responsible for their waste.”

Governments across the UK have committed to delivering deposit return schemes from October 2025. However, the proposed scheme in England does not include glass items, despite glass being found on 52% of beaches in 2023. The charity is calling for governments across the UK to introduce compatible all inclusive deposit return schemes as soon as possible. This would see aluminium cans, and plastic and glass bottles have a 20p deposit which would be returned when recycled which would reduce drinks-related pollution.

Businesses are, however, starting to take refillable and reusable options into their own hands. Supermarket chain, Aldi, the largest corporate funder of the charity’s 2024 Beachwatch programme, is already leading the charge in refillable items by trialling refillable options for cereals and porridge oats in their stores over the past 5 months.

Plastics and Packaging Director, Luke Emery, from Aldi, who are running 4 beach cleans for staff and volunteers in 2024, said, We are continually working to reduce single-use plastics and packaging, and making unpackaged product options more commonplace for our customers is a key part of this. We are really pleased with the uptake of our refillable range so far by customers. Not only are we making sustainable shopping more accessible, but we also offer refill products for a better price than the packaged alternative, helping our customers save money.”

Marine litter is one of the biggest threats to our seas, with plastic breaking down over time into microplastics and threatening marine life which can ingest or become entangled in them. The Marine Conservation Society is urging the UK Government to move faster on its policies to cut down plastic waste and prevent items from reaching our seas.

To find out more about the charity’s beach cleans and how to get involved, please visit mcsuk.org/beach-cleans

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Guarding Against Coral Invaders

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Protecting (Dutch) Caribbean Reefs from Unomia stolonifera

Recent reports highlight the concerning spread of the invasive soft coral, Unomia stolonifera, currently devastating Venezuela’s marine ecosystems and detected in Cuba. With the potential threat of its expansion to the (Dutch) Caribbean islands, urgent action and awareness are essential to safeguard marine biodiversity and local economies from possible catastrophic consequences.

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. These species can have major ecological effects by decimating native flora or fauna. They can also cause large economic losses and impact human health. Invasive species also pose a significant threat to marine ecosystems worldwide, including the Dutch Caribbean. Among these invaders is the octocoral species Unomia stolonifera or “Pulsing Xenia”, originally from the Indo-Pacific. With its rapid growth and lack of natural predators, this species can outcompete native species and disrupt fragile marine habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs.

Background

The invasive soft coral U. stolonifera was first identified in 2014, off the coast of Venezuela. It is believed to have been introduced via the illegal aquarium trade.  Since this species can reproduce sexually and asexually (or fragment), even small pieces can regenerate to spread.  Once introduced it quickly took over shallow reefs and hard substrate at depths of 0-50 meters, outcompeting local corals and seagrass for space.  Follow on surveys found that this coral species exhibited average percentage cover as high as 80%, vastly outcompeting native corals. In highly colonized areas, fish are disappearing due to loss of habitats.

In 2022, during a survey conducted in Cuba by the University of Havana, an unknown octocoral was discovered which was later identified as the invasive Unomia stolonifera. It is suspected that the coral larvae arrived in ballast water from fossil fuel ships originating from Venezuela, as nearby sites adjacent to Venezuelan ports have been heavily affected by the invasion.

How to help

Prevention through continuous monitoring, particularly in high-risk areas such as marine harbors and oil facilities, is paramount. Early detection plays a pivotal role in mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera.

The public’s involvement and awareness are also vital. Local communities, recreational divers, tourists, and all stakeholders are urged to participate in early detection efforts by reporting sightings (photo, location and date) of this invasive coral to their respective Protected Area Management Organization (PMO’s)- the Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA)STINAPA BonaireCARMABI Curaçao Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF)Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM) and St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA). If an invaded area is confirmed, follow the recommendations by the local PMO’s.

Keys to Success

Despite the challenges, early detection is key to mitigating the threat posed by Unomia stolonifera. With continued vigilance, research, and community engagement, there is hope for containing this potential issue before it becomes a major threat.

About the DCNA

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) supports (science) communication and outreach in the Dutch Caribbean region by making nature related (scientific) information more widely available through amongst others the Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s news platform BioNews and through the press. This article contains the results from several scientific studies but the studies themselves are not DCNA studies. No rights can be derived from the content. DCNA is not liable for the content and the in(direct) impacts resulting from publishing this article.

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