Open Seas

If you don't laugh, you'll cry 🥲 #DivedNotDredged

📢 #Highlands & #Skye join us on 12 March from 5.30pm for the #DIVEDNOTDREDGED Movie & Seafood Experience.

Featuring The Orkney Dive, a short film on scallop diving in Orkney & beyond, alongside discussion, drinks, light bites & the Coastal Testimonies exhibition
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/divednotdr...

The peace and quiet of life on an untouched maerl bed 🌊

#DYK maerl beds grow incredibly slowly, often just 0.5 to 1mm every year 😲



📸: Images freely available on Open Planet

🙌 Some good marine conservation news this Saturday!

All large pelagic fishing vessels in Scotland will be required to have cameras, sensors and GPS on board to record their catches 🎣

Do you think other UK governments should follow suit?

#MarineConservation #Scotland #PelagicFishing

A small fishing boat floats on a vast ocean with numerous seagulls flying above. The sky is overcast, and the distant background shows a faint outline of hills or mountains.

📣 Have your say on Scotland’s demersal fisheries. The Scottish Government is consulting on new plans, but current drafts risk business as usual. Push for world-class, sustainable management.

⏰ Closes 11 March https://consult.gov.scot/marine-scotland/fisheries-management-plans-demersal-fish-stocks/

Thursday 12th March, from 5.30pm @Skye Bridge Studios 123 A sustainable seafood experience #DivedNotDredged "The Orkney Dive" movie screening starts at 7pm Welcome drinks, buffet and exhibition from 5.30pm

📢 #Highlands & #Skye join us on 12 March from 5.30pm for the #DIVEDNOTDREDGED Movie & Seafood Experience.

Featuring The Orkney Dive, a short film on scallop diving in Orkney & beyond, alongside discussion, drinks, light bites & the Coastal Testimonies exhibition
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/divednotdr...

Previously threatened population in Highland loch makes 'full recovery' A previously threatened marine population in a Scottish loch has made a full recovery, experts have said

Some brilliant news from Loch Carron today! The flame shell reef, badly damaged by scallop dredgers, is recovering!

This shows what happens when you introduce real protections, to let nature recover.

www.thenational.scot/news/2589373...

Waitrose suspends sale of mackerel because of overfishing Supermarket chain says it will point customers to herring and other species to protect threatened Atlantic stocks

A significant, welcome sourcing decision from Waitrose - will others follow suit?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The panel lined up at a table (Reform, Greens, Cons, Lab, SNP) with banners behind them. They are taking questions from the audience.

Last night we joined the Climate & Nature Hustings to hear from parties ahead of the election.
We need:
🐟 At least 30% of inshore waters protected from bottom-trawling & dredging.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Quota allocation that benefits communities.
⚓ Full vessel monitoring to end illegal fishing.
🌊 A new Marine Minister.

Let’s make sustainably produced food a defining issue at this year’s election! Join us and @foodcoalition.scot for Scotland’s flagship National Food Debate and hear directly from political parties on how they plan to deliver meaningful change to our food system. Sign up here ➡️ bit.ly/49E4CWI

A shot of the article in question

Lovely to see our work turn up in Private Eye! It was a pleasure to help the community in Ardmore prove they were not imagining the presence of Maerl beds in the area...

A shot of the article in question

Lovely to see our work turn up in Private Eye! It was a pleasure to help the community in Ardmore prove they were not imagining the presence of Maerl beds in the area...

Join us for an online free workshop with Open Seas and NESCAN Hub.

Thu, 26 Feb 2026
12 PM - 1 PM | Online

Know more, and sign up on Eventbrite
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-seas-...

Plan to jail bosses of polluters backed by Scottish Parliament The ecocide bill would allow for people to be jailed for up to 20 years for damaging the environment.

📣 “Ecocide is a crime against the common good." - Doug Allan on BBC Radio Scotland

The Ecocide Bill passing Stage 1 is an important step in recognising large-scale environmental damage as a serious crime but the damage to Scotland’s seas is already happening.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Workshop: "Protect Our Seas" Join our free workshop to learn how to engage with elections, lobby candidates, and use marine science to protect our seas.

🎟️ Tickets are still available for the 'Protect Our Seas' workshop too! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-p...

Big shout out to the Golden Slipper Brewing Company (Orkney-based brewers serving non-alcoholic alternatives) for supporting the healthy seas cause by serving some free kelp kombucha at our Orkney event this weekend 🌱🍺

We can't wait to see you there. Check them out 👉 www.goldenslipperbrewing.co.uk

❗Sold out!❗

Our Kirkwall event is now fully booked.

If you missed out, keep an eye on our socials across the next few days in case any tickets become available closer to Saturday.

And good news: there are still spaces available for our Protect Our Seas workshop [see below].

Workshop: "Protect Our Seas" Join our free workshop to learn how to engage with elections, lobby candidates, and use marine science to protect our seas.

👉 Book your workshop place here and learn how to engage with elections, lobby candidates, and use marine science to protect our seas: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-p...

Thank you for the incredible support for The Orkney Dive - we can't wait to be there!

❗Sold out!❗

Our Kirkwall event is now fully booked.

If you missed out, keep an eye on our socials across the next few days in case any tickets become available closer to Saturday.

And good news: there are still spaces available for our Protect Our Seas workshop [see below].

Read the full story here 👉⛴️ www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/no-furt...

📣 "It's deeply frustrating to hear that illegal scallop dredging has yet again taken place in one of Scotland's most important protected environments, with no consequence at all for those responsible." - Phil Taylor, Director of Open Seas

Our public affairs manager gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee – on restoring cod to the Clyde, the need for govt to meet legal obligations in making decisions over the health of our seas, & why ministers need to prove that policy is backed by science.

Campaigners urge ‘simple but sigificant’ change for Scottish sea lochs Sarah Boyack is bringing forward an amendment to the Scottish Government's Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill

"Labour's Sarah Boyack insisted Holyrood could "show leadership" by backing a move to ban dredging and trawling in key parts of the lochs - allowing them to continue to store substantial amounts of carbon."

Read more 📖: www.scotsman.com/news/environ...

What does the 2026 election mean for Scotland’s seas? Join The Scottish Rewilding Alliance at their #HopeForNature Hustings on 20 March to ask Scotland’s political parties how they will act to restore our waters post-election.

Book your seat (or join the livestream): hopefornature.eventbrite.co.uk

The Orkney Dive movie & seafood experience Come join us for a tasty dive into Scotland's sustainable seafood and fishing. £5 TICKETS, including seafood tapas and BYOB

... a panel discussion and Q&A, a local seafood buffet from Loki Seafood Shack, and the Coastal Testimonies exhibition.

Full details and tickets are available here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-orkney...

We are delighted to be bringing a seafood & movie experience to Orkney at the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall, on Saturday 7th February, 5.30PM.

The evening includes a screening of the short film, The Orkney Dive, celebrating the role it plays in providing sustainable seafood. Plus...

Hey Daryll, that sounds great! Thanks for the invite 🦞🙌

✍️ Read the full op-ed here: www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...

📄 And read our Argyll report here: www.openseas.org.uk/argyll-report/

Featured here in a The Scotsman op-ed, the research shows that low-impact methods keep more money in local communities, support more jobs, and do far less damage to the seabed habitats those fisheries depend on. Yet these same areas remain exposed to dredging and bottom trawling.

🦞 “Hand-dived scallops generate four times the value of those dredged from the sea-floor.”

That’s one of the headlines of our newly published Argyll report which examines the impact of four different fishing methods in Argyll, home of some of Scotland’s most valuable inshore fisheries.