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Posted by Lauren Smith on

Western Ecology Tour

Western Ecology Tour

I am delighted to be joining an awesome expedition team this June, developed and led by professional diver Andy Clark (https://andythenortherndiver.com/).

The UK’s marine environments are under more pressure than ever before. From the plastic pollution littering our beaches to the damage done by discarded fishing gear and intensive or sometimes illegal fishing practices. It is imperative to gain a better understanding and awareness of these issues and the action required to protect the seas we all love and depend on.

The team Andy has assembled includes divers, marine biologists and underwater videographers with the aim of assessing the marine environments along the West coast of the UK and to support the vital work of specific projects with the goal of protecting these habitats for future generations.

I will be involved in the Northern most part of the expedition, diving Loch Carron and Loch Duich and explaining more about the Shark and Skate Citizen Science Scotland group that my colleague Chris Rickard and I have set-up (https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/sharkandskatecitizensciencescotland/).

If you would like to learn more about the expedition or support the projects involved please check out the expedition proposal which can be found here: https://andythenortherndiver.com/expedition-wet/

Posted by Lauren Smith on

Beach Cleaning

Beach Cleaning

I have been taking part in, organizing and coordinating beach cleans for over 7 years now, my actions are a direct result of what i see on a daily basis; more and more rubbish ending up around our coastline. Having spent a reasonable amount of time frequenting some of the most remote Scottish beaches and coastal areas, i simply do not remember the last time i visited a beach that was rubbish free.

Just over a month ago i held a beach clean in Ullapool, this clean was just one of the 487 beaches, rivers & lakes that were tackled as part of the Surfers Against Sewage Autumn Clean Series. This year an incredible 21,200 volunteers took part in autumn cleans across the UK, removing a staggering 35.9 tonnes of marine plastic pollution, as well as other rubbish such as metal oil drums, tin cans and car parts!

The increased awareness amongst the public led to 100 more cleans in 2018 than at the same time last year. This increase in support was mirrored by the doubling of volunteers taking part in the Marine Conservation Societies ‘Great British Beach Clean’, this year when compared to 2017.

When i first started beach cleaning the objective would be to just pick up as much as you can and get it off the beach, whilst this is still a primary focus, cleans now endeavour to document the type and size of particular items. This helps to inform governments and provide much needed data to direct policy and look at longer-term solutions within industry, manufacturing and recycling. 

A huge thankyou to everyone who took part in this years cleans, we had a truly international effort with volunteers from Canada, Lithuania & Slovenia who were visiting this area during the clean and kindly volunteered their time. As well as plenty of local support within the community here in Ullapool.

Posted by Lauren Smith on

Call of the Blue

Call of the Blue

On the 19th of November i headed down to the Natural History Museum in London, i was attending a book launch party and would be doing a Q&A session on sharks whilst there. The book by Philip Hamilton is entitled “Call of the Blue” and tells the story of positive, focused people who are working to save our oceans. Featuring incredible images captured by Philip over a 5 year period, with chapters outlining the efforts by individuals and communities to inspire and drive change.

I was absolutely honoured to be a part of this, having been contacted around 18 months ago by Tom Hooper to give an interview about my work with sharks, excerpts of which were to be featured in the book. The launch was fantastic, representatives from all sectors were present, including CEO’s from huge companies, marine charities, activists and researchers like myself. All were there to understand more about our marine environment and the threats it currently faces.

In the afternoon prior to the launch party, the head curator of the fisheries department James Maclaine, was kind enough to indulge my curiosity and gave me a behind the scenes tour of the preserved elasmobranch specimens that were kept in the archives. This was absolutely fascinating and a real treat to see the scale of the collections they had, highlights included a Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalis), that had washed up on the UK coastline. This species is in my opinion one of the most extraordinary sharks out there, recent research using radio carbon dating techniques have been used on the eye tissue of these sharks. Results revealed that of the sharks sampled, age ranges varied with the minimum age being AT LEAST 272 YEARS OLD! The 2 largest sharks in the study were estimated to be between 335-392 years old! 

Having recently collected a number of eggcases around the Scottish coastline, i was particularly looking forward to seeing what species of eggcases were in the NHM collection. I was not disappointed! I was delighted (and a little concerned that i would drop it) when James handed me a Chimaera eggcase collected in 1904.

Equally fascinating was the enormous Great White Shark jaw, it was donated in the 1800’s to the museum and since then there has been an enormous amount of speculation as to the size of the shark that this jaw belonged to. Some scientists believe that the shark would have been around 8m!!! The stuff dreams are made of – well my dreams at any rate!