Cool Seas Roadshow
Background
Over 50% of the UK’s wildlife lives beneath the waves, but few people have the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the astonishing diversity of life within our seas. With the use of life size inflatable replicas of marine mammals, activity booklets, posters and other online material the Cool Seas Road Show continues it successful tour around the UK to present an engaging curriculum-linked marine workshop to the schools.
The workshop teaches the children about marine life and how we can help to protect it in an active and engaging way, and since its launch in 2006, the CSR has proved to be extremely popular, having visited over 200 schools and presented to well over 70,000 children. In addition, the Roadshow leaves a lasting legacy, through the distribution of MCS Cool Seas activity booklets and posters, Save Our Seas Foundation schoolbooks and curriculum-linked online MCS resources. School pupils are genuinely amazed to learn for the first time about the wonderful marine wildlife that inhabits our cool seas through the Roadshow. Once Andy explains what they can do to help protect our diverse marine wildlife, the pupils are genuinely enthused and are keen to do their bit.
Based on the excellent performance of the CSR under the current Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) grant, we have received numerous requests for Roadshow appearances throughout the UK, and have already generated support from the Loughs Agency in Northern Ireland for 6 weeks of school visits in the first quarter of 2009.
The workshop teaches the children about marine life and how we can help to protect it in an active and engaging way, and since its launch in 2006, the CSR has proved to be extremely popular, having visited over 200 schools and presented to well over 70,000 children. In addition, the Roadshow leaves a lasting legacy, through the distribution of MCS Cool Seas activity booklets and posters, Save Our Seas Foundation schoolbooks and curriculum-linked online MCS resources. School pupils are genuinely amazed to learn for the first time about the wonderful marine wildlife that inhabits our cool seas through the Roadshow. Once Andy explains what they can do to help protect our diverse marine wildlife, the pupils are genuinely enthused and are keen to do their bit.
Based on the excellent performance of the CSR under the current Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) grant, we have received numerous requests for Roadshow appearances throughout the UK, and have already generated support from the Loughs Agency in Northern Ireland for 6 weeks of school visits in the first quarter of 2009.
Aims & objectives
The project aims to increase the awareness and knowledge about the importance of marine biodiversity conservation amongst UK and Sri Lankan school pupils and teachers. The project will highlight how everyone, from school children to governments, can help protect marine biodiversity.
Overseas outreach
The Cool Seas Road Show is also linked to the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) in Sri Lanka. Although not obviously apparent, the marine worlds’ of the UK and Sri Lanka are entwined due to Sri Lanka supplying up to 75% of the UK’s tuna market; as sharks are often caught as bycatch through tuna fisheries, the links to marine conservation become starkly apparent.
The Cools Seas Road Show ran a series of incredibly successful workshops with TCP around Sri Lanka earlier in 2009 to educate local children on the importance of protecting the apex predators and the marine ecosystems in which they reside.
The Cools Seas Road Show ran a series of incredibly successful workshops with TCP around Sri Lanka earlier in 2009 to educate local children on the importance of protecting the apex predators and the marine ecosystems in which they reside.