Simon's Blog: Net Gain

Rob Spray and Dawn Watson, the coordinators for Seasearch East, are keen that local divers get involved in the latest round of consultations on the new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) which will be put in place around Britain's coastline.

A campaign to collect nominations for great dives – called “Your Seas, Your Voice” – will be presented to the MCZ bodies to show how divers value their local sites. For those who want to take their interest further, Seasearch (of which, PADI is a steering group member) is a project which asks divers to record the wildlife they see on their UK dives; the data collected already will be presented to the MCZ project, to support calls for conservation, and will be used to show how divers can be an important part of the process. The MCZ project in the East is called “Net Gain” and is keen to hear from everyone with views on diving from Suffolk to Northumberland; make sure they know how you feel!

If you want to get involved there are several websites which await your clickthrough...

www.yourseasyourvoice.com :- Nominate and vote for your favourite sites

www.seasearcheast.org.uk :- Take your diving further, learn how to record what you see

www.netgainmcz.org :- Make your views known to the body planning the Eastern MCZs