As a volunteer for the UK’s first National Marine Park at Plymouth Sound ('PSNMP'), I was delighted to be asked to join its first annual Focus Group meeting in October at which we discussed our experience during the development phase and our ideas for volunteer work during delivery.
Fantastic news followed in January when we learned that the PSNMP's bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund succeeded with a grant of £11.6m being awarded for the first stage in its’ 5 year delivery phase. This enables the capital, digital, nature and activity plans to start in earnest.
The vision is to create a diverse community of engaged marine citizens, helping to deliver the aims of the PSNMP across a marine partnership in the city. Following research at Exeter University the digital, nature and activity plans are based around the idea of developing a Marine Citizen Partnership as a way of engaging local people with the marine environment and setting them on a pathway via experiences, volunteering and employment opportunities.
Funding will enable improved community access through a capital programme including renovations to Mount Batten Tower, Tinside Lido and Firestone Bay.
Innovative developments in the digital space will see the marine environment being taken to the heart of the community, with 5 digital projects for marine communications including podcasts, a YouTube channel and more.
A series of exciting new Nature Boost projects will take off, with habitat boosts including restoration of seagrass beds, subtidal reefs and mudflats; and species boosts including seahorses, thornback rays and sand eel breeding.
Funding is also now available for radical new Nature Capital Research projects and Community Grants will offer the chance for local people to get involved with small, local projects. An Activity Plan also gets a boost, so PSNMP can double down on the Swim Safe scheme, Community Science, Shore In The City and other projects. An annual PSNMP festival will really help to raise awareness, encouraging the community to engage and move along the pathway.
Plymouth Sound is already an important protected marine habitat with an abundance of marine life alongside a city with a population of 265,000 people and represents a unique opportunity to improve co-dependence between people and nature. It is the first NMP globally aiming to create a symbiotic relationship between people and nature with a plan that could be replicated across the world.
It’s exciting to be involved with the important work carried out by such a dynamic organisation. I’ll post more as the delivery phase takes off.
Read more about the work of the PSNMP here
Image: Jay Stone