Scottish Seabird Centre and Seafari Adventures Forth Sign New 10-Year Partnership

The Scottish Seabird Centre and Seafari Adventures Forth have entered into a new 10-year partnership agreement to continue offering exceptional guided wildlife boat trips around the spectacular seabird colonies in the Firth of Forth.

Visitors to North Berwick can choose to experience wildlife wonder the Bass Rock, the world's largest colony of Northern gannets and the much-loved Atlantic puffins on Craigleith island from the popular Seabird Catamaran Cruise or high speed Three Islands trips. The exhilarating RIB trips to the Isle of May give passengers the opportunity to explore NatureScot’s stunning National Nature Reserve taking in the dramatic cliffs bustling with fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, and shags as well as experiencing the largest Atlantic puffin colony on the East coast.

The partnership agreement also supports vital conservation work, with Seafari continuing to assist the charity’s scientific, habitat management and maintenance trips to seabird islands in the Forth.

This long-standing collaboration will continue to operate from the Scottish Seabird Centre’s visitor attraction in North Berwick Harbour where visitors can also take the opportunity to explore the Charity’s interactive marine discovery experience or simply sit and enjoy the outstanding views from the relaxing in the café.

Both organisations are committed to sustainability and will prioritise future investments aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of their operations. Wildlife boat experiences will also remain aligned with the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code and best practices for responsible wildlife tourism.

Susan Davies, CEO of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said:

“We are delighted to have signed a new 10-year partnership agreement with Seafari Adventures Forth to operate many of our wildlife boat experiences. Their experienced skippers and wildlife guides ensure visitors enjoy safe and memorable trips while also supporting the charity’s vital conservation and science work on the islands.

The experience doesn’t begin or end with the wildlife boat trip – we also love welcoming visitors into the Charity’s Centre, on the edge of the harbour, to explore marine conservation issues further in our interactive discovery experience and to discuss issues with the experts in our team.”

Scott Aston, Director of Seafari Adventures Forth said: “We are pleased to continue to work in partnership with the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick. The Charity draws visitors to the area and undertakes some vitally important research and conservation management on the seabird islands in the Firth of Forth. This partnership deal confirms our commitment to support the Charity’s wider remit in the years to come.”

ENDS

For further press information:

• Jess Thompson, Marketing Manager, email marketing@seabird.org, tel: +44(0)1620 890202.

Notes for editors

• The Scottish Seabird Centre is an award-winning marine conservation and education charity whose purpose is to inspire and educate people about the Scottish marine environment and motivate people to care for it by supporting conservation projects.
• The Charity’s work is supported by its visitor experience which was refurbished in 2019. The Centre now contains a wide variety of story boards, digital interactives, virtual reality and remotely operated cameras that enable people to experience and learn about the spectacular wildlife of Scotland’s marine environment.
• The charity has led a range of high-profile conservation and education projects including the SOS Puffin initiative in the Firth of Forth.
• Follow the Scottish Seabird Centre on Facebook/ScottishSeabirdCentre. Twitter @SeabirdCentre and Instagram @seabirdcentre
• For more information on the Scottish Seabird Centre visit www.seabird.org

Key Facts about Scotland’s marine environment

• Scotland has over 18,000km of coastline, in excess of 900 islands, 61% of the UK total sea area.
• The area of Scotland’s seas is about 6 times the land mass of Scotland.
• Scotland’s seas support an amazing diversity of wildlife with over 6,500 species recorded.
• A third of Europe’s breeding seabirds are found in Scotland.
• Seabirds are one of the world’s most threatened groups of vertebrates and one in three species are globally threatened with extinction, including populations of Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) which are enjoyed by visitors to the Firth of Forth.
• Important marine species include basking sharks, dolphins, porpoises and seals. About 35% of Europe’s harbour (or common) seal population also occur in UK waters with 83% of these found around Scotland’s coast.
• Underneath the water Scotland supports important marine habitats such as cold-water coral, kelp forests and flame shell beds (an important blue carbon resource).
• Our oceans are important natural resource for combatting the effect of climate change. 83% of global carbon cycle is circulated through the world’s oceans and our coastal habitats account for around 50% of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.
• Healthy seas, however, have huge potential to provide natural solutions to the climate emergency by locking up carbon and helping the planet to cool.
• In the last 50 years we have lost 2% of the oxygen in our oceans as a direct result of climate change, this is already having a devastating impact on our marine eco-systems and if left unchecked will be catastrophic for food security the world over.