Survey of Seawatching, Bangor University's School of Ocean Science

The following is an extract from Bangor University's School of Ocean Science Survey element of the University website:http://www.sos.bangor.ac.uk/survey.

"Bangor University is investigating the distribution and importance of seabird watching along the Welsh coast. A similar study has already been carried out among divers, sea-kayakers and customers of wildlife viewing cruises. This type of information will be essential in the inclusion of seabird watchers’ interests in management plans for the marine environment, like the design of marine protected areas that take both conservation interests and user needs into account, as the Government plans to do as part of the newly published Marine Bill. The focus of the study is specifically on SEAbird watching, thus most of the questions in this survey refer to seabird watching in particular."

As you can see the University is looking to represent the activities of seawatchers in Wales in their input to Welsh Assembly Government planning for marine conservation etc. Perhaps those of you who seawatch would wish to contribute to the survey. It would be relatively easy for the occasional seawatcher to fill in the form to be found on the site for each visit. But for more regular watchers it would be time-consuming to complete a form for each visit. I have emailed Ana Ruiz to suggest that, as a regular watcher, I send her a summary of visits to, for example, Strumble, either monthly or at the end of the season. It would appear to be in our interests to contribute to ensure our activities are taken into account in future planning decisions on the marine environment.