Project overview
What? Marine Conservation Zones; preventing marine plastics
Why? Our oceans are under stress from pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction
How? Campaigning for Marine Conservation Zones, protecting seagrass beds and reducing our use of single-use plastics
Where? Marine habitats in Devon
When? Since 2004
Our mission: Wild Planet Trust is helping to protect the UK’s magnificent coastline to ensure it continues to support wildlife and livelihoods
Marine Conservation Zones
We played a key role in lobbying for the creation of the Torbay Marine Conservation Zone, one of 91 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) in the country, which provides protection for rare and threatened species. These zones provide an opportunity to halt and reverse the degradation of the marine environment by managing human activities within them.
As part of this initiative, we work with a variety of local partners and businesses to promote the need for marine conservation and sustainable practices. We also sponsor Torbay’s Blue Flag beaches, which are locations that not only need to have ‘excellent’ water quality ratings but must be managed to ensure both safety for visitors and protection for the environment.
Saving our seagrass
Seagrass beds are amazing carbon sinks, but they are at risk from dredging and anchoring, along with poor water quality. We have been working since 2017 to monitor and protect the seagrass beds in Tor Bay.
Turning the tide on marine plastics
The impact of marine plastics on our coasts, oceans, marine species and our lives is a global problem.
At Wild Planet Trust we are continuously reducing our plastic consumption.
In 2017, we stopped selling single-use plastic bottles at our sites and have also worked with our suppliers to source either biodegradable or recycled plastic alternatives in their products. When visiting our zoos, you will also see that we do a lot of work to inform and empower our visitors to reduce their plastic-use.
In addition, we’re involved in organising beach cleans alongside local partner organisations to help keep our much-loved beaches clear of litter.
