Seasearch

As a founding partner of Seasearch, we are incredibly proud of its history and our role as host and administrator and believe this next step in its evolution will usher in a brilliant new era. Earlier this year, a review of Marine Conservation Society’s role as host of Seasearch was carried out, to reflect on the volunteer experience and investigate if there had been any changes that over time would require attention.

The outcome of this review was that necessary changes to reporting, work planning and health and safety standards for paid contractors were required for Marine Conservations Society to remain compliant and that a number of our charity’s legal requirements were no longer aligned with the Seasearch community’s preferred approach.

10 months' discussion with Seasearch community representatives followed – during this time some of the activities in question had to cease and this meant we were no longer able to secure funding for them or for the general administration of Seasearch. This in turn meant we could no longer fund our own Seasearch staff costs.

To assist this we are providing a package of support which includes a grant to cover the third party set up costs and the donation of existing books for sale, to help ensure its future and further growth. We will also continue to work to clear the backlog of forms caused by the JNCC change in database until March 2026.

We sincerely hope that future projects arise that will provide mutually beneficial opportunities for Marine Conservation Society to work in partnership with the new Seasearch organisation.

Find out more information about Seasearch.