A journey with us is made even more special by the beauty that surrounds our vessels. It’s our responsibility to showcase these wonderful waters, but also to raise awareness of just how important they are, and the ways in which their natural beauty is under threat. Our Marine Awareness Programme exists to raise awareness of the marine environment in the west of Scotland.
The key objectives of the Marine Awareness Programme are:
In 2016 we commissioned MacArthur Green and the University of the West of Scotland to produce a Blue Economy in the West of Scotland paper. It identified a number of opportunities for us to support the delivery of the Scottish Marine Plan.
These opportunities were investigated and, through extensive conversations with Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, it was decided that we could support with marine biodiversity monitoring.
The project proposed by us, alongside Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, was a collaborative Citizen Science programme using our vessels to gather marine biodiversity data, building on the background data already being gathered by various NGOs.
A workshop held in 2017 with key stakeholders who already undertook marine biodiversity monitoring, Citizen Science projects and community engagement in the west of Scotland. The project scope was determined to include marine bird and marine mammal monitoring, and engagement with the local and wider community.
A key requirement of the project is that marine biodiversity monitoring is undertaken by volunteers using standardised methods. With this in mind, the methodology that is currently used to observe marine mammals from our large vessels by organisations such as ORCA and MARINElife was adopted for mammal monitoring. The European Seabirds At Sea (ESAS) methodology used by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee was adopted for marine bird monitoring.
Our vision is to support the Scottish Government in achieving a greener Scotland. Providing a lifeline ferry service along the west coast puts us in a unique position to assist remote local communities and businesses towards this goal. We support the environmental aspirations of these communities and provide facilities where we can. CalMac is continuously exploring new solutions to minimise waste and reduce our own environmental impact.
We are excited to share the details of our various programmes, outreach and initiatives through our environmental blog.
