EUROPARC is pleased to announce the first webinar of 2018, organised by EUROPARC Atlantic Isles.
Howard Wood (Chair of Community of Arran Seabed Trust) will talk about spearheading a campaign that established the first community-developed Marine Protected Area in Scotland, giving citizens a voice in a debate that has been dominated by the commercial fishing industry.
The Firth of Clyde was once known for plentiful fishing of herring, cod, haddock, and turbot. Small-scale traditional fishing provided a source of livelihood for generations of families in the Clyde and Arran, who were able to fish sustainably thanks to long-standing laws that banned practices that towed fishing gear along the seabed.
However, growing international demand for seafood and sustained lobbying by powerful commercial fishing interests in the 1980s led the British government to repeal various seabed protection measures. Coupled with technological advances in fishing, the new industry-friendly policies opened up the Firth of Clyde to the more destructive fishing practices.
Howard Wood is co-founder and chair of COAST (Community of Arran Seabed Trust) and also founder and director of SIFT. His passion for diving around the Isle of Arran in Scotland since 1974 led him to become a marine environmental campaigner. In 2015 he was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe and for his services to the marine environment an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.