The latest chapters of Monty Halls’ informative web series Generation Sea Change are out now.
Chapter three, An Island Uprising, focuses on the Isles of Scilly, and Monty and his family visited the island of St Agnes, where the world’s largest population-led rat eradication programme took place.
This led to the recovery of rare ground nesting seabirds, such as storm petrels, manx shearwaters, and puffins.
Monty – who is on the Main Stage at the GO Diving Show in March – said: “A massive thank you to Jaclyn Pearson and the team from the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, who are doing a sterling job at protecting our seabird populations.”
For more information about the IOS Wildlife Trust, visit the website.
Chapter four, Our Effluent Society, puts the focus on the sheer amount of raw sewage that is pumped into the marine environment.
Monty said: “We are all aware of the issues around sewage entering our rivers and seas, but it was only when we started to research this that we realised the scale of it all. It is truly staggering, with nine million hours of raw sewage pumped into our marine systems last year alone.
“So we tried to encapsulate that in our wee film (see what I did there…). This was actually filmed at the start of our trip, but is obviously just as powerful now as it was then (particularly as it’s the local people trying to get things sorted).”
He added: “A massive thank you to Friends of the Dart and The Lost Sound Dartmoor Folk Choir.”
For more information about their organisation, visit the website.
Chapter five, The Big Blue, puts the spotlight on magnificent blue fin tuna, which have appeared in vast numbers off the south coast of the UK.
Volunteer skippers are working with marine scientists to catch, tag and release them to understand their populations and movements. Monty goes along, and catches a giant.
Monty said: “A massive thank you to Mark at Fortuna Charters for accommodating us and the CATCH scientific team for imparting their knowledge.”
For more information about the catch and release programme, visit the website.
Chapter six, Till the Coast is Clear, focuses on one man’s extraordinary efforts to clean up his stretch of coastline.
Five years ago, Gary gave up his job, and devoted himself to the task full time. Since then he has cleaned up 22 tonnes of plastic, and recycled it all – and this film tells his extraordinary story.
Monty said: “A massive thank you to Gary, a conservation hero through and through.”
To find out more about Till the Coast is Clear, visit the website.
