Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Your Shore Project
Final Project Report
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 1 of 22
Contents
Page
2
3
4
Contents
Introduction
Your Shore Project Figures Summary
5
Section 1: Project Summary
6
Achievements in relation to each aim (Approved purpose) of the Project;
6
Aim 1: Provide opportunities for community groups and individuals to visit their local marine
environment.
7
Aim 2: Enable community groups and individuals to learn about their local marine
environment.
9
Aim 3: Form a sustainable community organisation to further the conservation of the marine
environment of each VMCA in the long term.
9
10
11
12
13
Helford
Looe
St Agnes
Polzeath
Fowey
14
Section 2: Project Outcomes
14
16
17
17
17
18
2.a What difference will your project make to your Heritage?
2.b What difference will your project make for people?
2.c How many people will receive training through your project?
2.dHow many volunteers do you expect will work on your project from start to finish?
2.e How will you maintain the benefits of your project in the long term?
2.f How will your Project affect the environment?
18
Section 3: Media summary
19
Copies of Press Coverage:
22
Section 4: Conclusion
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 2 of 22
Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Your Shore
Final Project Report March 2010 – Feb 2013
HLF Ref: HG-08-16348 (working name: Discovering
the wonders of Cornwall’s Marine Heritage)
March 2010 – Feb 2013
Introduction
The Heritage Lottery Fund and South West Water funded YOUR SHORE project
is a 3 year project delivered by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The agreed aims of the
project were to:
1. Provide opportunities for community groups and individuals to
visit their local marine environment.
2. Enable community groups and individuals to learn about their
local marine environment.
3. Form a sustainable community organisation to further the
conservation of the marine environment of each Voluntary
Marine Conservation Area (VMCA) in the long term.
This report summarises the outputs of the project.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 3 of 22
Volunteer
activities
Public events
Your Shore Project Figures Summary
Public
events
Community
Events
Interest
Talks
Volunteer
Events
Volunteer
training
School
events
Grand Total
Number of
events
183
Number of
Adults
5623
Number of
Children
3688
Total
72
2126
307
2433
4
145
6
151
137
2097
52
2756
37
607
0
607
62
497
1674
2171
495
11095
5727
16822
9311
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 4 of 22
Section 1: Project Summary
The Your Shore Project was delivered by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Team. It was managed by
Victoria Whitehouse and Ruth Williams, and a full time Your Shore Project Officer was recruited to run
the project. The Your Shore Project Officers were Abby Crosby (between March 2010 and April 2012)
and Matt Slater (between May 2012 and March 2013).
There was a real need to work with communities within Cornwall to encourage the
appreciation of our Marine Heritage and to engage people by providing opportunities to
get involved in Marine Conservation work. Cornwall’s five Voluntary Marine Conservation
areas in Looe, Fowey, Helford, Polzeath and St Agnes have an incredible value in terms of
unique habitats and biodiversity. They are home to many Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
species and habitats and they need to be protected better. By setting up a grass roots
community-led volunteer group at each VMCA, a ground swell of public support has been
generated which has led to an increased level of monitoring and understanding as well as a
wider degree of participation from all levels of the community at each VMCA.
This Your Shore project has been hugely successful….
In total, 16,822 people have been reached by the Your Shore Project in its 3 years through a total of
495 public, volunteer and school events:





9,311 (5623 adults and 3688 children) people attending 183 public events.
2,433 (2126 adults and 302children) attending community events.
151 (145 adults and 6 children) people attended interest talks.
2,756 (2704 adults and 52 children) people attended volunteer events and volunteer training.
2,171 (497 adults and 1674 children) attended school events.
The quality of the experiences and the positive publicity created by the Your Shore project have meant
that a huge amount of public awareness has been raised at each VMCA and across Cornwall. Each
VMCA now has a committed core team of volunteers who are capable of leading public events, carrying
out monitoring of the environment, leading educational visits to the shore and continuing the excellent
work of the Your Shore Project. This project has started a ground swell of public support for marine
conservation that, prior to the project, was not present in Cornish coastal communities. People have
become more connected to their local marine heritage and want to learn more about it and protect it
better. A total of 409 people are now registered as active VMCA volunteers.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 5 of 22
Achievements in relation to each aim (Approved purpose) of the
Project
Aim 1: To provide opportunities for community groups and
individuals to visit their local marine environment.
This project has succeeded in this aim; a total of 16,822 people have visited their local marine
environment as a result of public events, school visits and volunteer activities on the shore within
Cornwall’s five VMCAs.
In order to engage with local residents and visitors to Cornwall, a busy schedule of public events was
arranged at each of the five VMCAs. A wide range of people were targeted and a suite of different style
events were delivered. These ranged from evening talks through the winter months on subjects as
diverse as the history of Smuggling in Cornwall to the secret lives of Cornish Seals. Outdoors public
events took place throughout the year including; rockpool rambles with enthusiastic experts, boat trips,
snorkelling excursions, beach art competitions, beach cleaning, bird watching, seal watching, dolphin
whale and basking shark spotting, crabbing and Scuba diving.
As can be seen in more detail in the Evaluation Report, a total of 259 events (183 public events, 72
community events and 4 interest talks) were held during the Your Shore project. The numbers of
events increased each year; and the extensive training provided to the volunteers increased their
confidence and skills and resulted in volunteers leading events themselves. The effectiveness of the
public events in engaging and changing perceptions was monitored throughout the project, and many of
the volunteers reported that the project has changed their lives and given them a real focus and passion.
The Your Shore Project officer made sure that all avenues of engaging with local community groups
were explored. In the last two years, this role has increasingly been taken on by the committees of the
groups at each VMCA, as was envisaged in the project plan.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 6 of 22
Aim 2: Enable community groups and individuals to learn about their
local marine environment.
At each VMCA teams of volunteers from the local community have been trained and developed through
a structured volunteer training programme, coordinated by the Your Shore Project officer. Training was
provided on many subjects by the Your Shore officer and with the help of the Environmental Records
Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS) and experts from all over the country were
brought in to lead training events. Each year a group of key volunteers were provided first class training
on species found on rocky shores by marine biologists from the Marine Biological Association,
Plymouth.
To harness the positive energy and enthusiasm of the volunteers, training was provided in public event
leadership and organisation. Additionally volunteers were provided specialist training to carry out
surveys and monitoring of the marine environment such as: Seasearch dive surveys, bird surveys, shore
surveys and surveys of seals, cetaceans and basking sharks, seaweed identification, rocky shore species
identification, fish ecology, marine life rescue, sponge ecology and strandline training. Through the Your
Shore project a total of 609 volunteers were trained at 37 training events. These figures only take into
consideration formal training events – in fact, many more volunteers received informal training whilst
attending surveys and public events. Public talks and visits to the shore have educated thousands of local
people from many different community groups.
The scale of the commitment of the local volunteers is incredible, a total of 1,818.39 days of volunteer
time have been given to the project, equating to a total of 512.5 skilled days and 1306 unskilled
volunteer days.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 7 of 22
Local primary schools were involved in the Your Shore project as engaging with children has many
benefits. Not only does it instil a life-long respect and interest in the ocean, but it is also a great way of
indirectly getting information to difficult-to-reach families and adults within the local community who
may not attend public events. All of the primary schools within a five mile radius of each VMCA were
provided free Seashore safari experiences delivered by the Your Shore Officers and by trained marine
education volunteers recruited by the Your Shore team.
Engaging, fun, and educational activities that linked in to the national curriculum were provided. These
included: scavenger hunts, beach art, rockpooling, beach theatre, bird watching, beach cleaning and
litter surveying. 62 groups of school children were taken to the shore during the 3 years. This
comprised a total of 1,674 children and 497 adults (teachers, teaching assistants and parents) that were
educated through the project. Many of the school teachers who brought their classes to the shore
became enthusiastic volunteers for their local VMCAs and will continue to be involved after the Your
Shore project finishes. In the final year of the project, teachers were provided training by the Your
Shore officer and each school was provided with a free seashore safari resource pack, risk assessments
and equipment to give them knowledge and confidence to take school groups to the shore in future.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 8 of 22
Aim 3: Form a sustainable community organisation to further the
conservation of the marine environment of each VMCA in the long
term.
Each of Cornwall’s 5 VMCAs now have sustainable community organisations, set up and supported by
the Your Shore project. The groups have benefited considerably from the support of the Your Shore
project and after the conclusion of the project they will continue to be supported through events like
the Annual VMCA conference and through continued, but less intensive support from the marine team
of the Trust. Each VMCA group is slightly different but all will continue to offer similar activities to
continue to engage and educate the public about marine conservation in their local ‘patch’.
Helford
Helford Voluntary Marine Conservation group is the longest established VMCA in Cornwall. The
members committee of the group had been organizing an annual programme of public events prior to
the start of the Your Shore project. However the group had been doing little engagement with local
schools and there were no volunteer activities being organised. The Your Shore officer established a
volunteer group which rapidly grew, and it now comprises 127 volunteers. This group has organised
regular bird surveys of the VMCA, habitats within the VMCA have been mapped with the help of the
volunteers including seasearch divers led by CWT who surveyed eel grass in the estuary. Volunteers
carried out a detailed intertidal survey (the classic Norman Holme survey), continuing to add to a data
set which was started in 1986. Volunteers also helped with juvenile bass surveys that have been carried
out in the Fal and Helford for the last 15 years by a local expert.
The members committee of Helford VMCA want to see the momentum generated by the Your Shore
project continuing in the coming years. A (voluntary) volunteer coordinator has been appointed to
continue to organise regular volunteer meetings and to oversee the work of the volunteers and delivery
of educational work.
The VMCA engages with the local community through the work of the Helford VMCA Advisory group.
This is a group which meets quarterly and includes representatives from the fishing industry, local
businesses and organisations involved in the conservation of the area. After the Your Shore Project has
finished, Cornwall Wildlife Trust will continue to be part of this advisory group.
Website: www.helfordmarineconservation.co.uk
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 9 of 22
Looe
Prior to the Your Shore Project, the Looe VMCA benefited from a one year HLF funded project
”Discovering the wonders of Looe’s Marine Heritage”. That project set up a volunteer group and a VMCA
Advisory group at Looe VMCA. The advisory group continued to be developed through the Your Shore
project. The Advisory group has representatives from the Harbour commissioners, Fishermans
association, yacht club, small boats association, local businesses, tourism information centre,
environment agency, Natural England, Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and other
organisations.
The volunteer group also continued to expand throughout the Your Shore project and the group now
has 85 registered volunteers and a committee was established to steer the group. In October 2012 the
committee elected to become a local specialist group of Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
In September 2012 the group was successful in their application for funding from East Cornwall Local
Action Group. £9000 funding was received which will enable the volunteers to kit themselves out with
the equipment needed to run public events including a gazebo, flags, first aid kits, first aid training,
microscopes and an underwater camera. The funding has also been used to set up a fantastic website
and for the production of leaflets, a walking trail leaflet and a printed children’s activity book. Two parttime paid members of staff have been taken on for a year using these funds. The future looks bright for
this VMCA.
Website: http://looemarineconservation.org/
xxx
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 10 of 22
St Agnes
St Agnes VMCA was no longer active at the start of the Your Shore Project, and offered no
opportunities for local people to relate to their marine heritage. The Your Shore officer worked to
bring together people from the community with an interest in the VMCA, and successfully established a
marine conservation group with an active team of volunteers who steadily became more skilled and able
to lead events and now self-manage the group. There are now 88 volunteers on the list. The group has
set up a constitution and appointed a committee. For the first time the group has started charging for
membership (£5 per year). The group has planned its events schedule for 2013 and is well on the way to
becoming a local specialist group of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. They have engaged the local
community by carefully selecting public event talks that attracted a wide audience. The Chairman is
actively involved in the St Agnes Local Information Point scheme which has replaced the tourist
information centre, and has close links with the St Agnes Museum. Regular updates on the work of St
Agnes Marine Conservation group feature in the local monthly village newsletter – the St Agnes Bolster.
The local primary schools are also heavily involved in the group with several local teachers having been
trained to lead rockpool rambles.
Funding has been granted to the group by GE money to set up a new volunteer initiative for this
summer called the ‘St Agnes Seashore Rangers Project’. It will enable a team of volunteers to man an
information station at Trevaunance cove during the busy beach days throughout the summer months.
These volunteers will promote the special marine heritage of the area, give out information and further
raise public awareness of the importance of St Agnes Voluntary Marine Conservation Area.
Website: www.st-agnesvmca.org.uk
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 11 of 22
Polzeath
Prior to the start of the Your Shore project, Polzeath VMCA was a semi-active organisation that
focused its efforts on guiding and managing the tourist audience rather than attracting visitors or
recruiting local members. The Your Shore officer built great links with local community groups including
local schools, Polzeath residents association (PARA) and the Polzeath Voice, and succeeded in drawing
together a dedicated team of volunteers. At the end of the Your Shore project there are a total of 65
volunteers signed up. In 2012 the group decided to become an independent not-for-profit organisation
called ‘Polzeath Marine Conservation Group’. Partners in the group are Cornwall Wildlife Trust,
National Trust and Cornwall Council. The group aims to continue with the great work started through
the Your Shore project in raising public awareness and monitoring the VMCA.
The VMCA benefits greatly from having a visitor centre – the small but excellent Polzeath Marine
Centre. This was originally set up by Cornwall Council. Due to budget cuts, the council has handed
responsibility for the centre over to the newly formed Polzeath Marine Conservation Group. The costs
of running the centre mean that fundraising has been a priority for this group. It will cost approximately
£1000 to run the centre per year – so far the group has raised £1600 through a combination of
fundraising events and donations from local businesses.
The Polzeath MCG, and their partners National Trust, will continue with the highly successful Polzeath
volunteer marine warden scheme. Each year throughout the Your Shore project, a part-time volunteer
was recruited to help the volunteers to manage the marine centre, the events schedule and to liaise with
community groups and schools. The ranger carried out 2 days per week volunteering for the NT and 3
days per week volunteering for the VMCA. In return they got free accommodation at the NT
Pentireglaze farm. This has worked extremely well for the last 3 years and will continue beyond the end
of the Your Shore project and the volunteer for 2013 has been appointed.
A busy schedule of events has been planned for 2013 and a leaflet has been printed for the coming
season (costs were covered by Valley Caravan Park). Lots of exiting things are planned by this group!
Website: www.polzeathmarineconservation.com
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 12 of 22
Fowey
Fowey VMCA is the most recent of Cornwall’s VMCAs and was set up in 2003 by Fowey Harbour
Commissioners. Lack of resources and staff capacity at the Harbour Commissioners meant that very
little was happening at the start of the Your Shore project. A membership organisation called the
Friends of the Fowey estuary had been established but this group did not engage much of the local
community, offered events that suited older people and didn’t run practical activities that would
encourage younger adults, families and children to participate or provide opportunity for volunteers to
get involved with active conservation work.
Through the support of the Your Shore project a volunteer group was established and the number of
practical events through the year was increased. Many volunteers have been trained to lead public
events and carry out surveys. The group is now organizing bird surveys of the estuary, and detailed
surveys of the eel grass beds of the VMCA have been carried out with the help of the Your Shore
project officer and the volunteers. A team of rockpool ramble leaders has been established and the
group intends to survey the shore and muddy habitats within the VMCA in detail over the next years.
In 2012 the volunteer group merged with the Friends of the Fowey estuary and this merger has
reinvigorated the group. With three of the committed volunteers now on the committee of the Friends,
they are in a much better place to continue with the public engagement work the Your Shore project
started. The Fowey estuary partnership group provide a steering role for the development of the work
of the Friends of the Fowey estuary. The chairman of the Friends sits on this committee, as do the
Trust, the Harbour commissioners, representatives from stakeholders and business and other
organizations such as the National Trust and the Cornwall Inshore Fisheries Committee.
Website: www.friendsofthefowey.org.uk
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 13 of 22
Section 2: Project Outcomes
2a: What difference will your project make to your Heritage?
The Your Shore project has undoubtedly succeeded in inspiring people to support the conservation of
our marine environment. This has been achieved through increasing understanding of and access to the
marine environment.
Local responsibility for the natural environment has been nurtured and developed within communities
and visitors.
Training has enabled volunteers to get involved with monitoring and surveying that has greatly added to
the amount of data on the species and habitats within the VMCAs. This data has been crucial for marine
conservation as it has inputted to the process of establishing Marine Conservation Zones. Many of the
volunteers have become wildlife recorders. The list of survey work carried out during the project by
volunteers is impressive:

Seagrass beds have been mapped in all 3 of the south coast VMCAs using remote operated
vehicles with underwater video cameras, and utilizing trained sea search diving volunteers. This
work has proven the presence of eel grass beds that were previously undiscovered and
unsurveyed. Seagrass mapping projects within the Looe and Fowey VMCAs were used
to support the designations of these two pMCZs for that rare habitat.

Seasearch divers have carried out surveys at all Five VMCAs during the course of the Your
Shore project. In 2010 the entire sea search project was focussed on studying Cornish
VMCAs– Much of this data has been used to argue the case for marine conservation zones.

Monthly Wetland bird surveys have been carried out at Helford VMCA for 2 years now and
this will continue at the end of the project.

In 2009 - 2011 via the Seaquest Netsafe project, sea watches were set up within the St
Agnes VMCA and overlooking the Looe VMCA. This data was used in Cornwall Wildlife Trusts
Seaquest Netsafe study which has focussed on reduction of accidental by catch of cetaceans in
Cornish waters. The effort based data set of sea life sightings created has been really important
in the consideration of mobile species in establishment of Marine Conservation Zones.

At Fowey VMCA Heronry surveys are being carried out for the first time this summer and a
dedicated bird watching subgroup of the Friends of the Fowey aims to get involved with
Breeding bird surveys and wetland bird surveys this year.

At Polzeath VMCA seabird populations, seal and cetacean numbers have been monitored during
monthly boat surveys carried out in 2012 and will be repeated in 2013. This has provided
important mobile species data to support the Padstow Bay and Surrounds proposed
Marine Conservation Zone.

Detailed bird and seal surveys have been carried out at Looe Island within the Looe VMCA for
the last 3 years, which has supported the Whitsand and Looe Bay proposed Marine
Conservation Zone.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 14 of 22

Shore surveys have been carried out in all 5 VMCAs, including transect surveys at Looe island
and detailed shore search transects at all five VMCAs in September 2012. These surveys have
highlighted the presence of BAP species, including the Stalked Jellyfish at all five VMCAs, as well
as documenting the exceptionally high biodiversity at all sites.

A very detailed Norman Holme survey was carried out in 2011 at Helford VMCA.

Dormouse surveys are carried out regularly at Fowey VMCA.

Seaquest surveys monitoring cetacean and other megafauna activity are being carried out at all
VMCAs.

Juvenile bass surveys are carried out by VMCA volunteers within the upper reaches of the
Helford VMCA.
An improved sense of ownership of the marine heritage has been achieved at each VMCA as a result of
the activities of the Your Shore Project which will have a lasting effect on the sustainability of the marine
environments of the VMCAs into the future.
Many threats to marine heritage have been highlighted and addressed through the work of the local
VMCA groups. Gill netting off Looe VMCA has been monitored by volunteers and where illegal activities
have been discovered, reports have been made to the managing authority, the Cornwall Inshore
Fisheries and Conservation Authority. At Helford, the activities of unlicensed collection of shellfish from
the shore has been monitored and highlighted as a concern by the group. Pollution has been monitored
by volunteers at the South coast VMCAs. At Looe and Fowey VMCAs the volunteers have worked with
the Environment Agency to highlight the problems with water course being brought to the fore by the
new bathing water directive. At St Agnes local people with the help of the VMCA are raising awareness
of the proposal to begin dredging for tin off the North Coast of Cornwall.
Much of the data collected by VMCA volunteers has already benefited our marine heritage having
provided supporting evidence to back up the argument for better protection of the marine environment.
Data collected by VMCA volunteers has been submitted, via Cornwall Wildlife Trust to DEFRA to
support the campaign for establishment of Marine Conservation Zones.
This project was well timed to build support for, and to collect and submit data supporting the
establishment of marine conservation zones. Since the start of the project three of our VMCAs have,
been recommended as Marine conservation zones. These are Whitsand and Looe bay (which
encompasses the whole of Looe VMCA), Upper Fowey and Point Pill creek (including much of the
Fowey VMCA) and Padstow Bay and surrounds (which includes Polzeath VMCA). Helford VMCA is part
of the Fal and Helford Special area of Conservation. Both Fowey, Padstow and Looe were included in
the first tranche of public consultation which was carried out this winter – the level of support from
VMCA volunteers has been impressive and a huge number of people are now signed up via the CWT
website as friends of their local marine conservation zones. Throughout the project volunteers were
updated on the MCZ situation via regular MCZ e-newsletters and via our detailed website.
Records of features of conservation interest including sea grass beds, mussel beds, stalked jellyfish,
dolphins, sea birds and seals have all contributed to this cause. Datasets have been submitted to the
Government and these data have been considered appropriate by Defra because they are less than 3
years old.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 15 of 22
Volunteers from the VMCAs have also helped lobby the government for better marine protection. The
‘petition fish’ campaign by the Wildlife Trusts was heavily supported by our VMCA volunteers. Cornwall
Wildlife Trust submitted 15,000 signed petition scales calling for establishment of a network of Marine
Conservation Zones, many of which were collected during the hundreds of Your Shore events that took
place between 2010 and spring 2013. During this period many of the volunteers actively campaigned for
better protection of our marine environment and wrote to MPs and used social media to put pressure
on the Government.
The Your Shore project played a key role in engaging and educating the public in Cornwall about
Marine Conservation Zones and how they could get involved in the process and have their say. In
conclusion the project has enabled people to take action that has contributed to the conservation of
Cornwall’s marine heritage.
2b: What difference will your project make for people?
As has already been described, the project has reached over 16,000 people and far more people
indirectly through media articles, websites and social media. Investing in training and engagement with
long term volunteers and school teachers have made a massive impact on a large number of participants
who have told us how empowered and confident the training has made them feel.
Here are some comments on the impact of the Your Shore Project taken from survey forms and emails
sent to the Your Shore Project Officer;
An unforgettable experience learning and discovering the amazing and surprising wildlife on our
doorstep. It has made me hungry to learn more and do more. Everyone is so enthusiastic about
carrying on the VMCAs after the project ends and also taking on school trips. I have made some
lifelong friends and felt part of a community that had a real positive impact. A big thank you to
Matt, Abby and the team for passing on their knowledge and enthusiasm.
Gill Bridges, Looe Marine Conservation Group
"The team within the Your Shore project have enabled us at Polzeath marine centre to gain the
vital skills, knowledge and confidence required for us to work towards independence. Being part
of a community group doing such positive educational and environmental work in a place I am
passionate about means everything to me. It is so rewarding being part of this team and our
enthusiasm is infectious. The funding has helped us form the foundations for a lasting legacy.
Jo Arvor, Polzeath Marine Conservation group
"I've always loved the sea and been interested in wildlife and conservation but had never made
any effort to get involved, believing that it was better left to it the experts, that was until I
heard about the Your Shore project. This provided me with all sorts of opportunities to learn
about my local marine environment at St Agnes. Over the last few years I've gone from
knowing virtually nothing about the marine life on my doorstep to being able to identify many
species, teach others and organise events. Thanks to the Your Shore project St Agnes now has
a thriving and growing group of volunteers who like me are all passionate about their local
environment and actively take part in marine conservation even though most us are not
biologists or experts. Not only is the work we do making a real difference but volunteering has
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 16 of 22
completely transformed my life giving me a real sense of purpose and fulfilment, I can't imagine
my life without it."
Dan Murphy, St Agnes Marine Conservation Group
The Your Shore Project has been an outstanding success in Looe. Since its inception in 1996,
the Looe Voluntary Marine Conservation Area (Looe VMCA) struggled to maintain public
engagement up until the point when it came under the leadership of Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Since then, it has flourished and has now reached the point where the Looe Marine
Conservation Group has been established as an independent, self-sustaining collection of
volunteers who champion the local marine environment. It is unlikely that this would have been
achieved without the Your Shore Project.
Dr Nick Pope, marine scientist and member of Looe Marine Conservation
We have achieved far more than could be hoped at the start of the project. In the project application it
was stated that we would deliver 10 public events per VMCA per year resulting in 150 events during the
3 year project. Thanks to the help of the dedicated volunteer leaders this number was increased so that
a total of 259 public events were held.
The project evaluation report provides more information about the benefits of the project to people.
2.c: How many volunteers do you expect will work on your project
from start to finish?
It was estimated that at least 100 volunteers would work on the project – It is difficult to accurately
calculate the number of active volunteers but the total number of people who have signed up as active
volunteers for the VMCA groups is 409.
2.d: How many people will receive training through your project?
It was estimated in the project application that at least 100 volunteers would receive training. In fact the
total number of people to receive training through the Your Shore Project is 609 at a total of 37 training
events. This only takes into consideration formal training events – in fact many more volunteers
received informal training whilst attending surveys and public events.
2.e: How will you maintain the benefits of your project in the long
term?
As described under aim 3 above, each VMCA group now has a constitution and a committee and a plan
for the future continuation of their work. They all have dedicated volunteers who have invested a vast
amount of time and effort to have got this far, so it is highly likely that the work of the groups will
continue. Cornwall Wildlife Trust will still be working closely, although much less intensively, with the
groups and as two of the groups (St Agnes and Looe) will be local specialist groups of the Wildlife Trust
they will be receiving regular support and benefits.
Local steering groups have been set up at all of the VMCAs (with the exception of St Agnes who are still
in the process of establishing a steering group).
At each VMCA teachers have been trained to lead rockpool rambles and provided with the equipment
and resources needed. At each VMCA volunteers will be encouraged to continue to contact local
schools to ensure this important work is carried on.
Through its experience at marine community engagement developed through the Your Shore project,
the Trust has been able to get involved in a European (Interreg) funded project called PANACHE
(Protected Area Network Across the Channel ecosystem). PANACHE will enable the Trust’s marine
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 17 of 22
team to continue to carry out engagement work within VMCAs and other Marine Protected Areas
along Cornwall’s South Coast over the next two years. Following the end of the Your Shore HLF
funding, the Your Shore officer, Matt Slater has been appointed as the PANACHE Marine Awareness
Officer and he will continue to support and help out with the volunteer groups of the south coast
VMCAs at Fowey, Looe and Helford as well as look at engaging with people outside the VMCAs and
potentially creating more volunteer groups in other areas.
The highly successful VMCA conferences that have been held for the last 2 years will continue to be
held and organised by the Trust. The conference gives the volunteers a great forum for sharing
information and ideas and enthusiasm. The feedback that we have received shows that this is well worth
continuing with as the amount of effort needed in organising it is far outweighed in terms of benefit to
local conservation groups.
With the government making slow moves towards the creation of an ecologically coherent network of
Marine Protected areas, the role of VMCAs within this network is becoming increasingly important. It is
vital that the good community marine conservation work established through the Your Shore Project
continues as the effectiveness of the future Marine Conservation Zones will depend on strong public
support for marine conservation.
Polzeath, Looe and Fowey VMCAs are all within recommended Marine Conservation Zones. The
ground swell of support for marine conservation within these communities will make a massive
difference firstly in the battle to get these zones established and, later in the process, the success of the
zones will largely depend on good public support.
Already we are seeing a high level of organisation and to date all five VMCAs have been really successful
in the delivery of their activities for 2013. This will be monitored and the Trust is in a position to offer a
certain level of support to the groups in the future.
2.f: How will your Project affect the environment?
As listed in the application form the project minimised its environmental impact by using IT
communications to minimise need for travelling between sites. Volunteers and staff were encouraged to
lift share. The Environmental Action plan laid out in the application was followed at all stages.
The network of committed local marine conservation volunteers has enabled local people to get
involved in real conservation work. It also makes dealing with marine pollution and other issues far
more efficient. A good example was the teamwork shown as volunteers across Cornwall worked
together to tackle the terrible numbers of seabird strandings due the PIB pollution incident of April
2013.
Section 3: Media summary
A total of 25 press releases were put out during the course of the Your Shore Project. From this 41
articles were published in local newspapers and magazines including Cornwall Life, Cornwall Today,
Natural World, West Britain, Cornish Guardian, Western Morning News, Falmouth Packet, the
Cornishman, Newquay Voice.
Refer to Your Shore press summary evidence document 16.
Three short films were made which were screened at the Polytechnic Arts Cinema, Falmouth and were
widely seen via You tube. It was not originally planned to produce the films however, due to contacts
made through the early development of the project, the opportunity to produce the three high quality
films arose.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 18 of 22
Five articles were also published in the Cornwall Wildlife Trust magazine – Wild Cornwall which has a
readership of over 14,000.
The Your Shore Project also featured on TV in Escape to the Country (BBC2) in August 2010 and on
Country file (BBC1) (piece on Looe VMCA).
During the 3 years of the Your Shore Project, 983,332 visits to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Website
were logged, including 4,191 visits to the Your Shore Project and Living seas website. A total of 34,0000
leaflets promoting Your Shore events and activities were produced during the 3 years of the project
and these were distributed effectively across the county.
Posters displayed in prominent places around the Your Shore Project catchment areas also helped to
raise the profile of the project and the events. Facebook and Twitter were used to further promote the
project and the VMCA groups activities.
Copies of Press Coverage:
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 19 of 22
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 20 of 22
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 21 of 22
Section 4: Conclusion
Cornwall Wildlife Trust is extremely proud of the achievements of the Your Shore Project. Without the
funding provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and South West Water this project would not have
been carried out. At the end of the project we now have local volunteer groups who are well
motivated, trained and enthused to continue with the work of promoting our wonderful local marine
heritage. Our vital marine life has a far stronger local voice thanks to this project.
The methods developed through the Your Shore project will be disseminated and shared and rapidly
are becoming viewed as best practice for engagement with the general public and motivating people to
work together to support marine conservation.
There are many other areas where local communities are ready to start working in this way and we
hope to be able to continue with this essential community support and development work in future.
Matt Slater Your Shore Project Officer.
Additional information on the Your Shore project has been submitted in the form
of:

Evaluation report

Activity Plan

Evidence summary and evidence documents
Additional records are held at Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Cornwall Wildlife Trust HG-08-16348 Your Shore Project, Final Report Page 22 of 22