‘Marine Invaders’ is open to the public, all ages, and no special training is required to take part. Participants can visit the CoCoast website (www.capturingourcoast.co.uk), where a list of habitats and non-native species will be provided. Volunteers can then choose which habitat they wish to visit – sandy beach, rocky shore or ports and estuaries - and choose a species to search for. An identification card will be available to download, print and take to the shore to help with their search, which the CoCoast team say should take around 15 minutes.
The CoCoast Yorkshire team will be visiting two sites in the Yorkshire region over this weekend, firstly on Saturday 9th September where the team will be at Filey Brigg from 10:30 am (Grid Reference: TA 12062 80903; Post code: YO14 9LF). Then on Sunday 10th September you can join the team at Runswick Bay from 11:00 am where, in addition to ‘Marine Invaders’, the team will also be running a BioBlitz event (Grid Reference: NZ 80913 15972; Post code: TS13 5HT).
You can of course visit any site you choose over this weekend and records can be uploaded to the CoCoast website, and shared on social media using #marineinvaders
Regular CoCoast volunteer Dave Bell, Cullercoats, who will be taking part in the Marine Invaders campaign, said: “I’m taking part because I am concerned with the interaction of the invasive species with the existing local inhabitants.”
The CoCoast partnership involves Newcastle, Portsmouth and Bangor universities, the Scottish Association for Marine Science, the Marine Biological Association of the UK and the Marine Conservation Society. Along with Earthwatch Institute, the Natural History Museum, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the North West Costal Forum.
To sign up, and to find out more about the Capturing our Coast project, visit www.capturingourcoast.co.uk