Speaker Tara Proud Marine Conservation Society

Tue, Jan 29th 2019 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm


As chairperson for the evening Past President Angus Peters introduced highly-qualified biologist Tara Proud as speaker for the occasion.

Tara is Volunteer, Community and Engagement Manager (Scotland) for the Marine Conservation Society, a charitable organisation which – as Tara would go on to explain – is at the forefront of fighting the current worldwide issue of marine pollution.

The focus of their work is in three areas – Ocean Recovery – investigating and understanding the science involved; Clean Seas – mainly removing as much of polluting substances as possible; Responsible Seafood – monitoring the stocks of sea and farmed fish and attempting sustainability.

Scotland, said Tara, has 10% of Europe’s coastline and 45% of all European seabirds are also found here. As a result there are a large number of protected marine areas around our coast. In particular – and closest to St Andrews – is a big area only a few miles out into the North Sea. It is the home of a creature none of the audience had ever heard of – the quahog. A shellfish something similar in appearance to a scallop, it is regarded as the oldest animal on the planet and has lifespan of some 400 years. It is a vital part of the ecology as its lifestyle protects and encourages other wildlife.

Scottish waters are also home to the world’s second largest fish, the basking shark, mostly around the Hebridean islands of Eigg and Muck. Also to be found is the world’s largest turtle specimen, the leatherback, which can grow up to two metres in length.

Tara used the example of the leatherback to introduce what is currently one of the most topical and controversial topics  - plastics pollution in our oceans.

The leatherback has poor eyesight and commonly mistakes plastic bags for its favoured food of jellyfish. It will mean the non-degradable plastic will remain in its innards for the rest of its life, up to 50 years.

A slide show of worldwide beach monitoring really shocked the audience, showing the staggering amount of litter, mainly plastics of all kinds, which are being dumped in the seas and often washed up on shorelines. The organisation, with the help of volunteers, carries out regular aerial mapping of Scotland’s shores. It identifies beaches where it is not unusual to find up to 46,000 pieces of litter – mostly plastics – within one square mile.

Tara makes frequent visits to schools all over Scotland to inform children of what is clearly a major danger to our environment and has presented to more than 7000 schoolchildren in the last year.

As she explained to her Rotary audience, the message is going out that there are bio-degradable alternatives to plastics. It is vital they should be employed, as plastics may break up into smaller pieces, but they will never degrade. Microplastics and microbeads are now being found everywhere and they also attract toxins which easily find their way into the diets of all sea creatures – and therefore into the human food chain.

Tara concluded with the statistic that Marine Conservation Society had attracted a volunteer increase of 83% in the past year, but that the increase in beach litter is at much the same percentage.

Giving a vote of thanks, Issie Douglas said that in the light of so many sad and shocking statistics, we were fortunate indeed to have people like Tara with the knowledge and passion to tackle such a serious issue. We cannot, she said, underestimate the importance of the work undertaken by her organisation.

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