Our ROV surveys don’t just reveal healthy marine habitats or fishing damage, they also uncover rather large reminders of the human footprint, like this full-sized container sitting 40+ metres deep. Healthy seas mean reducing all forms of harm 🗑️🚢 Tomorrow is #WorldCleanupDay

Tomorrow we’re at the Scottish Parliament for the Mass Climate Lobby of MSPs with our ROV 🌊🤿 — the kit we use to reveal what’s really happening on Scotland’s seabed. Come by our stand to say hello and see the ROV up close and hear how our research helps protect marine life, communities & climate.

🐬A reason to be hopeful: As of today, the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies has entered into force. Governments, including the UK, now have to make sure taxpayers' money isn't funding illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, or contributing to overfishing.

We’ve taken our message to the big screen 🪧🌊 Decades of destructive fishing and bad decision-making have pushed Scotland’s seas to the brink. We know recovery is possible, so what are the government going to do about it? Learn more at openseas.org.uk and tag us if you spot our billboard 📸📍

There's nothing quite like witnessing wildlife in its natural environment, and few species bring as much joy as dolphins do. Their playful nature is a remidner of why healthy seas matter. Happy #WorldDolphinDay! 🐬🌊 🎥: David Ainsley

"This Saturday on Papay Westray 🎬 🐚 Join us for a FREE screening of 'The Orkney Dive' in support of our #DivedNotDredged campaign — with fresh hand-dived scallops on the menu. Spend a night celebrating low-impact fishing & high-quality seafood. Find out more about our work at openseas.org.uk

1 week to go! 🌍🔥 We’ll be at the Mass Climate Lobby of MSPs on 18th Sept with our ROV - the underwater kit we use to uncover what’s really happening in Scotland’s seas. Come say hello at our stand to find out more about our research and why healthy seas must be part of Scotland’s climate action.

🌊 GOOD NEWS 🌊 Two years after signing up to the UN #HighSeasTreaty - which, when ratified by 60 states, will create new powers to protect marine habitats & wildlife in the high seas - the UK Government has AT LAST introduced the legislation required as a 1st step to ratify this Treaty in UK law.

Always great to see sustainable seafood and hand-dived scallops being prioritised and celebrated. Congratulations Hebrides Cruises 👏⛴️ www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/fo... @scotsman.com

We’ve been back in the water 🌊🎥🔍 The Open Seas team has been out at Gigha and Islay with the ROV, documenting seabed habitats and looking for signs of damage from scallop dredging 🧵⛴️

What does the climate crisis look like in the ocean? 🌊📸 Few people can answer that better than Doug Allan, the legendary photographer and filmmaker behind BBC classics The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Frozen Planet - to name just a few 🧵⬇️ @scotmaritimemuseum.bsky.social

Our message is out there on the big screen: 🤿 Support low-impact fishermen by choosing dive caught scallops, not dredged. Though scallops might all look the same on your plate, how they’re caught makes a huge difference to the seabed. #divednotdredged

Spot the shrimp! These nearly invisible skeleton shrimp (caprellids), with their tiny, threadlike bodies, seamlessly blend into the red weed 💀🦐🌿 🎥: David Ainsley

Spot the shrimp! These nearly invisible skeleton shrimp (caprellids), with their tiny, threadlike bodies, seamlessly blend into the red weed 💀🦐🌿 🎥: David Ainsley

Great to see coverage of the Criminal Catches report (@ejfoundation.org & @fishcoalition.bsky.social) in @thetimes.com today, highlighting major risks in the UK's int'l seafood supply chain 🧵🐟 80%+ of the seafood consumed in the UK is imported. Read the report: ejfoundation.org/reports/crim...

"Bottom trawlers drag heavy stuff on the bottom in order to catch fish which means they are actually knocking on the habitat, and really affecting the ecosystem." Listen to Dr Rashid Sumaila on BBC Sounds podcast speaking about the hidden costs of bottom trawling 🐟🐠 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Our seas are a shared resource 🐟 Stronger democracy means supporting local voices to help shape decisions that deliver public benefit from our seas & safeguard the environment. That's why we’re backing Ask 6 of the #ScottishFoodCoalition's manifesto. Read more ➡️ foodcoalition.scot/wp-content/u...

Scotland’s offshore “protections” leave much of our seabed at risk with MPAs still open to trawling damage. More protection = more fish, more jobs, a healthier sea & more resilient coastal communities. This is just 1/2 of the equation, urgent action is needed in Scotland's inshore waters too ❌🌊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Have you spotted one of our billboards out in the wild yet? Take a pic and tag us if you do! 📸📰🦞

Frustrating to hear fresh reports of illegal trawling inside Scottish MPAs - it's harming communities, sustainable fisheries and our seas. Remote Electronic Monitoring has been fitted to scallop dredgers, ending illegality in that fleet. The same is now needed on these bottom trawlers too.

300+ seabed surveys. 3,500 km of sea covered. 1 motion lodged in Parliament. It’s great to see MSPs recognising what our #oceanwitness report makes clear: Scotland’s MPAs must be properly protected from destructive fishing for the benefit of seabed biodiversity 🌊🪸

Scotland depends on a thriving local food economy, & our seas can play a vital role in that by providing nutritious, affordable seafood. But only if we support low-impact fisheries & protect the habitats that sustain their catch 🐟 See the SFC's #Ask5 here: foodcoalition.scot/wp-content/u...

We welcome SFF's recognition that effective marine spatial management is a must from Scottish Government. The sea belongs to us all, that's why it’s vital thatt a plan is prioritised guiding which activities go where and which parts are left for the environment 🧵 www.insider.co.uk/news/fishing...

An ROV POV: Scotland's maerl beds Meet Maerl - a purple-pink seaweed that grows on the seafloor like a carpet, forming vital beds that are home to marine life. This coralline red algae grows a hard, chalky skeleton in its cells which gives it its vibrant purple-pink colour, similar to coral reefs 🪸

Take action on climate change and join Scotland’s biggest climate lobby in Edinburgh, 18 Sept 🌍📢 🚶‍♀️Meet MSPs 📣Make your voice heard 🎉 Enjoy workshops & stalls 👉 bit.ly/3IhRpaS #ActNowChangeForever @sccscot.bsky.social

Before protection was introduced in 2016, the Wester Ross MPA was heavily dredged, hit by illegal dredging once again in 2019. Today signs of recovery are slow but visible. As scallop diver Alisdair Hughson says, though damage can be long-lasting, recovery is possible 🌊🦀🌟 🎥: Andy Jackson

Hundreds of people from across Scotland will meet their MSPs on 18th Sept to call for practical leadership to build a fairer, climate-safe future 🌍 We're offering training, support with travel costs, and other activities on the day ✍️ 👉 Register at bit.ly/44TiTfB #ActNowChangeForever

🦞 ICYMI 🦞 From research trips around Scotland's seas to publishing our jam-packed #oceanwitness report, there's always plenty going on at Open Seas. Stay in the loop by signing up to our newsletter 📩 www.openseas.org.uk/get-on-board/

Catch methods matter! #DivedNotDredged

Happy Birthday @arrancoast.bsky.social 🥳 30 years of protecting the health of the seabed, the livelihoods it supports, and its wildlife. We've been proud to work alongside them and look forward to the next 30 👏 🎥: all footage by COAST

Scotland’s seas can provide nutritious, affordable seafood but only if we protect the habitats that sustain it. The #ScottishFoodCoalition call for all food production to be resilient and sustainable, whilst benefitting people, animals and planet 🌍 📄: foodcoalition.scot/wp-content/u...

Illegal fishing is one of the biggest issues facing our seas, that's why we're advocating for govts to adopt 10 principles of fisheries transparency. That includes ensuring transparency on who gets sanctioned for illegal fishing, even if you are the Secretary of State. www.bbc.com/news/article...

“These sites are nationally important parts of Scotland’s maritime history." Protecting wrecks and relics is vital, as is protecting the living seabed they rest on. We welcome these new historic MPAs in Orkney and Shetland 👏 www.scottishlegal.com/articles/new...

"The Clyde population… is different to elsewhere on the west coast of Scotland in maturity and biomass trends." New ICES paper reinforces our longstanding concerns about trawl bycatch of cod in the Clyde: www.openseas.org.uk/news/clyde-c... Via Fishing News.

New ICES paper sheds more light on the complexity of cod stocks. Our 2023 blog explains why this must inform strategies to recover cod populations: www.openseas.org.uk/news/on-thin... Via Fishing News.

In June, we revealed 135,000 lumpfish had died on a Mowi salmon farm in the Highlands. Now, Scotland’s biggest fish farming company says it will stop using them. Find out more: theferret.scot/mowi-...

Hearing divers’ stories never gets old. When we spoke with scallop diver and Director of Keltic Seafare, Alasdair Hughson, for our The Orkney Dive film, he had plenty to share about how rich life on Scotland’s seabed can be. Take a look 👇 #DivedNotDredged

A perfect example of what happens when we choose to protect the seabed 👏🦈 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Spot the ling 🔍🐟 📍 Loch Hourn

Proof that there's still so much to learn about our oceans. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"Bob Titterington hand dives for scallops off the coast of Jersey, supplying local chefs straight from the sea floor." 👏 Great to see Jersey backing low-impact fishing. www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/...

🎙️ ICYMI 🎙️ Tune in to hear our Director Phil Taylor speak with Cal Major on her podcast 'Our Ocean' last week about all things Open Seas, what Scotland's seabed looks like, and the details behind our new #oceanwitness report.

"A fishing vessel is believed to have damaged the Shefa-2 subsea cable over the weekend, leaving hundreds of people in Shetland and Orkney without internet." It's almost as if we could do with a spatial plan for fishing 👀 www.shetnews.co.uk/2025/07/29/f...

Scotland’s seas can feed communities, support jobs and power local economies but only if we protect them. We’re backing the call of the #ScottishFoodCoalition to include the right to food and a healthy environment in Scots law. Healthy seas = healthy food. 📄: foodcoalition.scot/wp-content/u...

Snorkelling might not be the first thing you think of when you think of Scotland but with summer sea temperatures above 15°C, clean waters, and incredibly diverse sea life, these snorkelling spots are worth considering 🤿☀️💧 www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

"Those responsible for environmental damage must be held to account.” The Scottish Government and the Marine Directorate's lack of transparency is deeply concerning.

“It should not need FOI requests for the public to gain clear insights into the Marine Directorate’s decision-making processes, including where those processes are lacking. Those responsible for environmental damage must be held to account.” Read more ➡️ theferret.scot/shetland-fis...

As David Attenborough shines a light on the damaging effects of bottom-trawling in his new film Ocean, trawl industry lobbyists have dismissed it claiming the film is "propoganda", "one-sided" and full of "Hollywood tearjerker techniques".

Our newsletter is back! 📩 Catch up on all of the latest by signing up here ➡️ openseas.org.uk/get-on-board/

Our newsletter is back! 📩 Catch up on all of the latest by signing up here ➡️ openseas.org.uk/get-on-board/