Tomorrow is World Oceans Day, an annual opportunity to celebrate our oceans, and raise awareness of the crucial role they play in our lives, the pressures on our oceans and the important ways people can help. Today Birdlife Europe has launched an alarm call on the failure of most EU countries to declare a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas – failure to protect Europe’s oceans and seabirds.
We echo this call in the UK, where we are working in all four UK countries to get MPAs designated for seabirds and other marine wildlife. Here, Allan Whyte, Parliamentary Assistant for RSPB Scotland, shares this energising tale about some of the activities they have been doing to fight this failure in Scotland.
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No day is ever the same when you work for RSPB Scotland, and some days are more varied than others. The day we shot our MPA campaign video is a prime example.
My day began at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. I was meeting a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to discuss our seabird campaign. I always enjoy going to Parliament, I like the formality of it and there is an ethereal sense that you are in a place where important things happen. It was strange then to leave Parliament for an overcast car park where I shed my shirt, tie and the formality of Holyrood for the magic of Hollywood (sort of) and a giant puffin suit.
Lights! Camera! Action!
Despite our years of campaigning, seabirds have been almost entirely ignored by the Scottish Government in its process to designate Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). We want to make sure that seabirds, a group of species for which Scotland is internationally important, are properly protected where they feed at sea (read more about the issues here).
It’s amazing how much people love seabirds – especially puffins – and they are alarmed and saddened when they hear that our seabird ‘cities’ are falling silent and populations declining dramatically. This time, we wanted to do something a bit different, something that people could enjoy but still take away an important message from.
Unfortunately there was no Hollywood budget available when we went to make this film. All we really had were big ideas, big seabird costumes and a surprisingly small camera.
Our film is a bit of fun with an important message. We will continue to campaign for seabirds to be protected at sea - especially during this summer when the Scottish Government will hold a public consultation on MPAs. If you haven’t registered as a campaigner with us, then PLEASE do it today (click here). We need your voice in this fight to get proper protection for our seabirds.
We would like to make another film so give us you suggestions – so far Top Gun, Ghostbusters and Pulp Fiction are the front runners but we want your suggestions. Tweet us @RSPBScotland and let us know what you think #seabirds.