BLUE RECOVERY: PEOPLE - POWERED OCEAN CONSERVATION
WHO ARE WE?
We are the Marine Conservation Society, and for 40 years we have been the voice of the ocean, tirelessly defending our coastal habitats and species. Combining robust science, high-quality engagement, and innovative projects, we work with communities, businesses, and governments to build a cleaner, healthier, and better-protected ocean that everyone can enjoy.
WHY NOW?
The ocean is facing unprecedented threats. The decline of marine habitats and species is not just an environmental crisis—it’s impacting human well-being, economies, and the communities that rely on our seas. However, there is hope: the ocean has an incredible capacity to recover when given the chance and can play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by absorbing carbon and providing over half the oxygen we breathe.
At a time when we need people to value the ocean more than ever, the disconnect between people and nature is growing. 90% of people live in urban areas and the number of children playing outdoors has halved in a generation.
Now is the time to act. With your support, we can inspire and empower people to work together to help reverse the decline and create a future where our oceans thrive once again.
OUR PROJECT - PEOPLE - POWERED OCEAN CONSERVATION
Volunteering and Citizen Science is at the heart of our work. The Marine Conservation Society empowers people to clean their local beach and survey what they find, report wildlife sightings and survey marine species like jellyfish, turtles, and seaweed.
With your funding we can grow our flagship volunteering projects Beachwatch and Seasearch and create new volunteer roles that enable us to educate more people about the threats faced by the ocean.
Volunteering
Through Beachwatch and Seasearch, we offer hands-on opportunities for people to directly engage with the marine environment, fostering not only a cleaner ocean but also stronger community ties and improved mental health.
We’re scaling up our efforts to create a national volunteering program accessible from anywhere—empowering individuals and communities with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to take meaningful, sustained action. We plan to grow our Ocean Voice volunteer roles (including presenters, media spokespeople, and campaign champions), and develop new online resources to increase volunteer engagement and deliver real, impactful change.
Citizen Science
Citizen science is the backbone of our conservation programme, providing critical data that informs decision-making and policy advocacy. Programmes like Beachwatch, Seasearch and our Wildlife Sightings Scheme engage volunteers in collecting data on marine litter and biodiversity. This data directly influences campaigns, leading to significant legislative wins like the plastic bag charge and bans on microplastics.
OUR VISION
- Expand Beachwatch: Our flagship beach clean and litter survey will grow to include 10,000 volunteers, participating[CS2] in 800 clean-up events in England.
- Grow Seasearch: By training hundreds of divers and snorkellers, we will expand our citizen science programme beneath the waves. These volunteers will help gather critical data on marine habitats and species, enhancing the quality of scientific data and informing policy change.
- Create inclusive opportunities: We will ensure more people can participate, with resources tailored for those with disabilities and underrepresented groups. Your support will help us break down barriers to involvement, making conservation accessible for all.
- Build online tools and training: We will develop digital resources, including learning modules and interactive maps, making it easier for volunteers to contribute to conservation efforts from anywhere.
Our Flagship Volunteer Opportunities, in detail
Beachwatch
Beachwatch is our nationwide coastal clean-up and the longest-running beach clean and marine litter survey in the UK. It empowers communities to become citizen scientists by cleaning and recording beach litter, with thousands of volunteers participating year-round. Our volunteers record every piece of litter on a survey form and our organisers upload the results to our database, contributing to a huge dataset accumulated over more than 30 years. This enables us to monitor trends in the pollution on our beaches and campaign for policy change using real scientific data.
In 2023, an incredible 14,271 volunteers in the UK and Channel Islands removed litter from their beaches, submitting over 1,100 litter surveys and clearing 17,208 kgs of litter.
With your funding we will:
• Increase our reach to 10,000 Beachwatch volunteers in England taking part in 800 beach clean events. These volunteers will be trained to record the harmful marine litter that they find.
• Create inclusive Beachwatch resources for people living with hearing and sight loss.
• Promote our findings through our annual State of Beaches report.
Join Beachwatch with your colleagues
We have great experience running insightful and inspiring volunteering days for companies and would love to invite you to engage in a Team Beach Clean with us as part of a partnership.
Seasearch
Seasearch is a citizen science programmes, which plays a unique role in ensuring our ocean is safeguarded. For 35 years, we’ve trained recreational divers and snorkellers across Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands to survey the health of our underwater environment and collect data on marine habitats, plants, and animals.
We log the data captured by Seasearch volunteers into a national database, which we use to assess the health of aquatic species and seabed habitats. From spiny lobsters to seagrass, our divers have discovered unrecorded species, and the dataset now holds approximately 900,000 taxonomic records and well over 60,000 habitat records. We use it to track population changes, the impacts of non-native species and as evidence of the need for protections from destructive fishing methods, such as bottom-towed fishing gear.
With your funding we will:
• Upskill our volunteers in citizen science techniques, running 15 training events for 300 volunteers and supporting our Seasearch divers and snorkellers to report their findings.
• Offer more volunteers the option of undertaking Seasearch surveys through intertidal walks, for those who experience financial or physical barriers with diving and snorkelling.
• Make it easier for people from underrepresented groups to get involved, including the creation of a Seasearch video for young people.
• Promote our findings through our Wildlife Sighting report, and through new online interactive maps.
Join us and inspire more people to engage in ocean conservation
By connecting people to nature and inspiring them to engage in practical conservation, our Blue Recovery project will help to restore habitats, protect marine species, and foster greater public engagement with the marine environment.
Our efforts to reduce pollution and collect data will result in cleaner coastal landscapes and healthier marine ecosystems.
Let’s work together to turn the tide for our ocean, coastlines, and communities.