Scottish Seabird Centre appoints new CEO

Award-winning marine conservation and education charity, the Scottish Seabird Centre, appoints Harry Huyton as new CEO. Harry brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience having worked in the environmental sector for over 20 years. As former Head of Climate Change for RSPB and Director of animal welfare charity, OneKind, Harry is acutely aware of the challenges facing the marine environment and pace of change needed to halt and reverse the decline of Scotland’s marine species.

Harry said of the appointment:

“It’s a privilege to join the Scottish Seabird Centre at this critical time for nature. The Centre is a great asset for the local community in North Berwick and Scotland as a whole, welcoming over 175,000 visitors a year and inspiring them to love nature and value Scotland’s globally important seabirds and marine environment.”

“The Scottish Seabird Centre team does incredible work inspiring and educating people about Scotland's seabirds and marine wildlife, why it’s so special, and most importantly what we stand to lose if urgent action is not taken to tackle the twin crises of the climate emergency and biodiversity loss. Our unique position overlooking the Bass Rock, the world’s largest northern gannet colony, is an ideal platform to introduce visitors to the amazing wildlife that Scotland’s seas support. I'm looking forward to working with the staff, volunteers and supporters, as well as the local community and stakeholders to grow the Centre’s vital and urgent work.”

Announcing the appointment, Stuart Housden, Chair of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said:

“We’re delighted that Harry has joined the team. His appointment comes at a pivotal time for nature, as global commitments to tackle the climate crisis are failing and net zero targets are falling further and further behind. Scotland is home to internationally important breeding seabird colonies, but many of these species are in steep decline with 9 species, including puffin, at risk of extinction. The need for a strong, collective voice for nature is greater than ever. Harry’s experience building partnerships will be critical to the growth of the Charity and in helping us achieve our vision for Scotland’s seas to be healthy, valued and wildlife rich for generations to come.

“Although we have a significant funding challenge ahead of us, we are optimistic about the future. In Harry we have someone who is well placed to quickly pick up the reins from our retiring CEO Susan Davies, who so expertly steered the Charity for 6 years, through extremely turbulent times. Thanks to her leadership and focus Harry has a strong foundation on which to grow and develop our work and ambitious plans for the future.”

ENDS

For further press information contact:

• Jess Thompson, Marketing Manager, email: marketing@seabird.org; tel: +44 07748908027
• High resolution images are available to download here.
• Harry Huyton is available to speak with the media about his appointment and this can be arranged through the Marketing Manager.

Notes to Editors

Biography – Harry Huyton

Harry is passionate about protecting and restoring our natural environment and has worked in the nature conservation and environment sectors for over twenty years. He has held a variety of leadership roles in NGOs and the public sector, most recently in the Scottish Government, where he championed investing in nature and tackling the climate emergency. He was also Director of OneKind, the animal welfare charity, where he led the charity through major growth, and was previously Head of Climate Change at the RSPB.

Scottish Seabird Centre

• 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 opened their doors in 2000 and celebrates their 25th year in 2025. Their 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, which has resulted in puffin numbers on Craigleith island increasing from 2000 pairs to almost 10,000 since the project began in 2007.
• 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.