SCUBAHUB
Marine Champions partner-up
BSAC HAS ANNOUNCED TWO NEW national partners for its hugely successful Marine Champions initiative.
The Wildlife Trusts and The Shark Trust have come on board to support the initiative by aligning their activities with the BSAC Marine Champion Action Days planned for 2026.
Launched last summer, the Marine Champions initiative aims to create a community of marine environment advocates across the BSAC club network. Each Marine Champion has been tasked with coordinating their club’ s environmental activities, including beach cleans, underwater litter picks, surveys and conservation campaigns.
To support their efforts, BSAC has scheduled a series of Action Days / Weekends for Marine Champions to focus their environmental plans. The Action Days will run from May to September and are a fantastic opportunity for Marine Champions to coordinate club environment activities and galvanise BSAC members to get involved.
Running alongside the scheduled Marine Champion Action Days, BSAC clubs can also get involved in activities coordinated by the project’ s two new marine partners.
This year, The Wildlife Trusts is partnering with BSAC on their National Marine Week, while the Shark Trust is inviting Marine Champions, BSAC clubs and members to get involved in their citizen science project, the Great Eggcase Hunt.
BSAC’ s Environment Committee Chair, Katherine Knight said she was delighted BSAC was working with both organisations to‘ amplify the value of the underwater perspective which we enjoy as divers and snorkellers.’
“ This means that by turning data from divers into meaningful action for the conservation of sharks, skates and rays with The Shark Trust and supporting The Wildlife Trusts National Marine Week, we can share the underwater world and its delights with an even wider audience.”
National Marine Week 25 July to 9 August
The Wildlife Trusts’ annual celebration of the seas around the UK, this year’ s event will partner with BSAC Marine Champions to inspire action to protect our precious marine wildlife.
Running from 25 July to 9 August, to take advantage of the tides, the 2026 National Marine Week will see a series of sea-themed events to get involved in.
Ruth Williams, head of Marine Conservation at The Wildlife Trusts welcomed BSAC’ s collaboration to help run events during National Marine Week 2026.
“ This partnerships supports our collective vision to get more people enthused about our seas, celebrating the amazing life we have around the UK coasts, and encouraging people to join us to take action. Whether that’ s carrying out a shore survey, or telling us what you see when snorkelling, it all helps to protect and restore our seas.”
The Great Shark Snapshot 18 – 26 July
The Shark Trust and BSAC are joining forces in asking divers to help reveal one of the ocean’ s best-kept secrets: where do sharks and skate lay their eggs?
The Great Eggcase Hunt asks people of all ages to head to their local beaches and search for mermaid’ s purses- the eggcases from sharks and skate. By recording what has been found, participants can help build a better understanding of these species.
While the Shark Trust’ s Great Eggcase Hunt has now seen over 600,000 eggcases recorded during the past two decades, just 0.7 % of these were from underwater submissions where the shark or skate was still developing in its capsule. Which is where BSAC’ s Marine Champions, clubs and members come in.
Senior Conservation Officer Cat Gordon said:“ Eggcases seen developing underwater are a crucial piece of the puzzle. We’ re now asking divers and snorkellers to keep an eye out for eggcases seen attached to seaweed or seabed habitats. Recording these observations will help provide a valuable insight into the critical habitat used for the egg laying process.”
This new partnership will also see BSAC promote the Great Shark Snapshot, taking place from 18th- 26th July 2026. During this week, divers are encouraged to report shark, skate and ray sightings from their dives, to build a snapshot of species encounters from the UK and around the world.
■ For more information on the BSAC Marine Champions initiative, its partners and this year’ s Action Days and Weekends, go to bsac. com / marinechampions
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