@cathgem2000
#OceanOptimist 🌊 Policy and Advocacy Manager for Marine Conservation Society 🌊 Volunteer Director for Moray Ocean Community #STEMAmbassador 🏞️ previous Trustee for Action To Protect Rural Scotland 🌍 Fellow Royal Scottish Geographical Society
And although not a focus of the press this year but a huge thanks to Scottish Islands Federation for continuing to gather Beachwatch data across the Scottish Islands thanks to @hief-enviro.bsky.social - we will be releasing more data on this work in the coming months so watch this space!
With massive thanks as always to the players of the @postcodelottery.bsky.social for loving Beachwatch as much as I do 🤩
Shout out again to every single volunteer who gave up their time last year to take part or run a survey - we couldn't do it without you!
And of course the Beach Clean Queen herself @lizzieprice.bsky.social coordinating it all 🌊
Why not share our summary report, the dashboard or the policy recommendations paper with your political representatives to ask them what action they are going to take to stop litter turning up on our beaches and harming our incredible marine wildlife?
www.mcsuk.org/what-you-can...
With an 18% reduction in single use plastics on our beaches we are seeing early signs of the single use plastic bans working - with carrier bags continuing to decrease we know citizen science data driven policy is working - we just need more of it and faster!
We have also updated our @mcsuk.bsky.social State of our Beaches Policy Recommendations Paper where we list the progress and what still needs to be done by governments across the UK to reduce litter on our beaches: s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.mcsuk....
I am also SUPER excited that thanks to the Scottish Power Foundation we are launching our first interactive @mcsuk.bsky.social Beachwatch data dashboard!
beachwatch-data-explorer.vercel.app/explore
State of our Beaches 2025 is out 🌊
A huge thanks to the incredible 14, 507 volunteers who headed out to beaches across the UK last year to clean and collect vital litter data for the @mcsuk.bsky.social Beachwatch project.
An image of underwater coral and fish with the text "Save the Date! Join us for Sea Scotland's 10 year anniversary. Theme: Joining the dots to safeguard Scotland's seas. Tuesday 27th October. The Discovery, Dundee.
Save the date for Sea Scotland 2026...and it’s our 10th birthday! 🎉 More details, including this year’s Sea Scotland youth event, coming soon.
@youth4seas.bsky.social @mcsuk.bsky.social @scotlink.bsky.social @scotwildlife.bsky.social @howellmarine.bsky.social @faunaflora.bsky.social
📸 NatureScot
Thank you @2050climategroup.bsky.social for inviting me to join your panel on politics and policy to be able to share my experiences from @mcsuk.bsky.social on Saturday - was a fantastic discussion with some brilliant questions from the audience!
Picture of Sea Scotland's ocean husting event in 2025
‼️OPPORTUNITY: Sea Scotland Steering Group Membership
We are inviting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from organisations, groups or individuals based in Scotland who would like to join the Sea Scotland conference steering group.
💡Find out more & apply: bit.ly/4cI6OhG
Yesterday it was fantastic to see DRS regulations laid in Wales for plastic, metal and glass drinks containers!
With @mcsuk.bsky.social Beachwatch volunteers finding drinks related litter on over 90% of beaches in 2024 this is brilliant news for Welsh seas!
Fab to see the regs laid today to ban plastic in single use wet wipes!
Our @mcsuk.bsky.social volunteers have picked up thousands from Scottish beaches and across the UK!
This will help wet wipe free beaches but also remember to only flush the three pees - pee, poo and toilet paper!
🌍 Islands are on the front line of plastic pollution, and also at the forefront of solutions. On 18 February 2026 (13:00–14:00 CET), join the Global Deposit and Return Platform webinar “Circular Islands: Winning the war on marine litter with DRS”
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #drs #circulareconomy
Diolch Cardiff for a fantastic few days raising awareness of our marine litter work at @mcsuk.bsky.social with current and future members of the Senedd!
From #depositreturn to reusable cups to fishing gear we covered a lot in two days & I can't wait to see what Wales does next to save our ocean!
Delighted to be part of the event last night, and show one of the films that we co-produced with @mcsuk.bsky.social
Want to watch any of the three short films?
🎞️ www.reloopplatform.org/deposit-retu...
Brilliant event from @mcsuk.bsky.social last night!
We're not often in the same room as each other, but it's always lovely to catch up when we are 🤩
Fantastic to be in @senedd.wales last night for our @mcsuk.bsky.social event on a #DepositReturnScheme for Wales with @reloop.bsky.social @keepwalestidy.cymru & Trash Free Trails.
Diolch to sponsor @carolynthomasms.bsky.social for sponsoring & @huwirrancadaviesms.bsky.social for speaking!
Exchange for change!
Brilliant to see the name and logo launch for the deposit return scheme across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland today - a vital step forward following years of campaigning by @mcsuk.bsky.social and others!
#DepositReturnScheme #CircularEconomy
For a more indepth dive into our policy on deposit return schemes, you can find our policy paper here -> s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.mcsuk....
Everywhere that has a deposit return scheme (DRS) has less litter - so of course we are big fans! If you are a fan of DRS then why not join our DRS Fanclub? www.mcsuk.org/ocean-emerge...
Brilliant piece by Nada Farhoud on learnings from Denmark and Latvia to help the UK move towards a circular economy. We're excited for the UK to join Denmark and Latvia in having a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans in October 2027
1/3 👇
Five speakers at the Sea Scotland event
Delegates at the Sea Scotland event, with a screen announcing the launch of the Youth Manifesto for Scotland's Seas
An audience member asking a question at the Sea Scotland event
An audience member asking a question at the Sea Scotland event
Huge thanks to our speakers from @scottishgreens.org @scotlibdems.org.uk @snp.org and Scottish Labour, and all the delegates who attended @seascotland.bsky.social's first ever Ocean Hustings on Monday! It was great to share ideas on how we can bring our seas back to health.
@youth4seas.bsky.social
Thanks so much @seascotland.bsky.social for giving me a chance to talk about my love of the ocean and how we should be looking after our local marine spaces! 🌊
Circular systems like this are the way of the future, and Reloop expects to see more of them across Europe as businesses back them and regulators introduce supportive policies.
@jennihume.bsky.social
@cathgem2000.bsky.social
@mcsuk.bsky.social
Making Waves: Sea Scotland Youth Voices event has begun!
@alanmunro.bsky.social & Caitlin from @youth4seas.bsky.social celebrating the launch of their manifesto which was created in collaboration with young people from across Scotland!
Sea Scotland Hustings is tonight🌊
We look forward to welcoming you all to the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute from 6.30 pm.
Can't join in person? We are livestreaming!🎥
Join us online at 7.00 pm 👉https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKCtstbbEZw
Arrived in Edinburgh for the @seascotland.bsky.social Ocean Hustings!
@mcsuk.bsky.social @scotlink.bsky.social
Brilliant first event for the 2025 @mcsuk.bsky.social #GreatBritishBeachean with Moray Ocean Community!
🌊 Registrations are now OPEN for Sea Scotland 2025!
Grab your spot to join our first-ever Ocean Hustings on 6th October at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute.
🚨Register today: bit.ly/44nKQfm
