The Sea Change project aims to establish a fundamental ‘sea change’ in the way European citizens view their relationship with the sea, by empowering them, as ocean-literate citizens, to take direct and sustainable action towards a healthy ocean and seas, healthy communities, and ultimately a healthy planet.
Key objectives of Sea Change are to:
- Compile an in-depth review of the links between seas and ocean and human health based on latest research knowledge outputs
- Build upon the latest social research on citizen and stakeholder attitudes, perceptions and values to help design and implement successful mobilisation activities focused on education, community, governance actors and directly targeted at citizens
- Build upon significant work to date, adopting best practice and embedding ocean literacy across established strategic initiatives and networks in order to help maximise impact and ensure sustainability
- Ensure that efforts to sustain an ocean-literate society in Europe continue beyond the life of Sea Change through codes of good practice, public campaigns and other ongoing community activities
- Ensure that all activities of Sea Change are carefully monitored and evaluated to ensure maximum sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency
- Ensure Knowledge exchange with transatlantic partners to bring about a global approach to protecting the planet’s shared seas and ocean.
The objectives will be achieved by a closely interlinked programme. Sea Change includes a mobilisation phase engaging with citizens, formal education and policy actors. Crucially, the legacy of Sea Change, including continuing knowledge sharing with North America, are embedded within the project.
SIPP Events
Message in a Bottle
“Message in a bottle” challenges us to change our relationship with the ocean. This will be achieved through the journey of eco-friendly bottles around Spain. Each bottle will have a parchment inside describing the event’s instructions and the big goal that we want to achieve: change our relationship with the ocean. This can be reached by small actions, which participants will carry out (e.g. choose reusable bags and bottles rather than plastic ones, don’t flush plastic down the toilet, beach and/or river cleaning, etc.).
All six routes were scheduled to start in September/October 2017 in different aquariums around the country. Each bottle will cover coastal and inland areas, raising awareness that our actions affect the marine environment no matter where we are. All the bottles will be brought together again during an engaging final event on 24 November 2017 in the National Environmental Education Centre, Spanish Ministry of the Environment, where participating schools will have the opportunity to learn more about the actions made as a result of the initiative.
The initiative was launched on 8 June 2017—World Oceans Day. Since then, a total of 50 participants have registered (schools, diving clubs, families, natural parks, etc.). These groups will take small actions to tackle the big challenge of changing Spanish citizens’ relationship with the ocean.
For more information on this initiative, see the Spanish website Mensaje en una Botella.
From A-B-Cs to A-B-Seas
Experienced educators, tutors, professors and researchers from the Sea Change project have developed a novel Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with the aim to create a deeper understanding amongst European citizens of how our health depends on the health of our seas and ocean, and to create a community of teachers and educators interested in the ocean. The course was launched in November 2016 on the European Multiple MOOC Aggregator (EMMA). The course provides support and advice for teachers and educators to incorporate ocean literacy into educational programmes, and share activities and lesson plans developed by experts in the field of Marine Education. Click here for the course flyer.
Take Action – Make a Sea Change
Even by making a small change in your everyday life, you can achieve big results in helping to protect the ocean. The Sea Change campaign provides tips and useful resources on what you can do to make a difference. This campaign is based on the latest scientific evidence with input from scientists and educators from a range of disciplines.
How to make a Sea Change in the kitchen
How to make a Sea Change in the bathroom
How to make a Sea Change in the supermarket
How to make a Sea Change in the office
How to make a Sea Change on the commute
How to make a Sea Change when eating on the go
Make a sea change today and pledge to protect the ocean at the following link: http://www.seachangeproject.eu/ouroceanourhealth/take-action-checklist
Sea Change – Project Information
Increasing Ocean Literacy
Our Ocean Our Oxygen from Sea Change Project. You can help to spread the word about the ocean’s life-giving vitality by sharing Sea Change’s video, which highlights the ocean’s contribution to the oxygen we breathe:
Human Health and the Ocean
Think Big, Think Ocean Contest – Competition Winners
Overall Winner: Safe Coastal Tourism, by Caroline Danneels and Jasper Stuer
National Winners:
Denmark—Invasive Oyster Species, by Lucas Poulsen
Spain—Coastal Mangroves, by Marc Magrans
France—Ocean Acidification, by Christina Marmet
Sweden—Microplastics From Clothes, by Carina Eliasson
Portugal—Overfishing and Underrated Fish, by Patricia Borges
United Kingdom—Marine and Coastal Litter, by Allicia Fullarton
World Oceans Day
Sea Change Partners AquaTT Wave for Change on World Oceans Day
AquaTT (Sea Change communication partner) and many others around the world who are riding the Wave For Change! Take the #WaveforChange challenge and take action for the ocean by recording a video of yourself making a promise and doing the wave.
University of Gothenburg World Oceans Day Activity
The University of Gothenburg had a booth at the Universeum Science Centre on World Oceans Day (8 June 2017), where people made pledges to take action to protect the ocean. 144 promises were collected in total!
500 Years of Ocean Change
The global ocean has changed dramatically since Ferdinand Magellan undertook the first circumnavigation of the world in 1519-1522. The ocean has increasingly become a connecting element among nations and people, while the human impact has largely increased and ocean observation is now an important tool in managing its waters.
This visual, based on scientific data, shows how the ocean has evolved in terms of temperature, acidity, sea-level, ice-cover, plastic pollution, shipping, stocks of larger animals, etc. in the past 500 years. It also displays some of the efforts made with regard to ocean observation. This graphic is produced by artist Glynn Gorick and by the Flanders Marine Institute in cooperation with the Oceans Past Initiative.
For a high resolution version of the infographic, click here.
For more information, see here.
Ocean EDGE Directory
The Ocean Edge Directory is a collection of educational resources and activities that are either available as downloadable products or serve as an inspiration to help you to share ocean knowledge to any type of audience. This database includes both formal and informal learning resources developed in the framework of European projects, or projects with a European involvement. The Ocean Edge Directory is available here.
Crab Watch
Crab Watch is a citizen science initiative developed as part of the Sea Change Project. The initiative explores how citizen science can be used as a tool for increasing ocean literacy, as well as collecting scientific data. Crab Watch will generate data to enhance our knowledge of the changing distribution of native and non-native crabs, as well as information to support environmental management.
The goals of Crab Watch are to:
1) Raise awareness of the changing distribution of native and non-native crabs
2) Use citizen science to generate valuable scientific data that is freely accessible
3) Encourage people to explore and engage with their oceans
For more information on Crab Watch, see here.
Human Health and the Ocean – Factsheets & Infographics
Factsheets: download here.
Funded by
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (H2020-BG-2014-1) under grant agreement No. 652644.
Project Partners
The Sea Change consortium comprises 17 partners from nine different countries, coordinated by the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. This consortium—which includes nine public research organisations, five non-profit organisations, two higher education institutions, and an SME—brings together selected experts to collectively provide the knowledge, competence, skills, and facilities needed for ensuring a good project development, the achievement of project objectives, and the successful delivery of project results.
The full list of partners as well as the members of the international advisory group are listed on the Sea Change website.
Related Publications
Newsletters
Ocean Conversations Summary Reports
Books
The Harmful Algal Blooms ebook is now available on the iBookstore; click here for details.
Press Releases
2017
06/2017 Crab Watchers Wanted: New Citizen Science Project to Monitor Crab Species
03/2017 Exciting Ocean Outreach Activities Revealed in the Sea Change Project’s Third Newsletter
2016
10/2016 Innovative Public Engagement Activities to Increase Awareness
10/2016 New Online Course Offers Educators Innovative Ways to Teach Ocean Literacy
08/2016 Galway’s Young Coders use their Digital Skills to Raise Awareness of Marine Issues
07/2016 Second Issue of Sea Change Project News Now Available
07/2016 Join the Sea Change – Take Action to Protect Our Ocean, Our Health
01/2016 Think Big, Think Ocean Video Contest Now Open
2015
12/2015 First Issue of Sea Change Project News Now Available
06/2015 Bringing About a Sea Change to Protect Our Oceans and Our Health