|
Boat
Place short-listed for Marine Award
 
| |
Ceredigion
County Council has been short listed in The
Crown Estate's Marine Business Awards for
2006 for their new information centre, the
Cardigan Bay Boat Place.
The
prestigious national award is designed to
recognise businesses and projects that demonstrate
outstanding performance, innovation, environmental
enhancement and sustainability.
The
Boat Place on the harbour in New Quay is aimed
at skippers wanting to make the most of their
experience at sea, and is packed with innovative
displays designed to give people the best
opportunities to see and spend quality time
with Cardigan Bay's rich marine wildlife.
A
live camera beams pictures of breeding seabirds
and grey seals hauled out at Birds Rock; hydrophone
records underwater sounds of the sea and a
computerised version of the Ceredigion Code
of Conduct tests people's knowledge of what
to do if dolphins are encountered at sea.
Click
here to find out more about the camera link.
Click here
to play the Code of Conduct game
|
|
Dr. Carolyn Heeps of
the Crown Estate
officially opened the
Boat Place on the
10th of May 2006.
|
| |
The
Council's Coast and Countryside Section
has been communicating the message for many
years that Cardigan Bay is a special place
for marine wildlife, and has encouraged
people to help play a part in its protection,
particularly now that it's a designated
Special Area of Conservation.
Liz
Allan, Conservation Management Officer,
said: ‘We are delighted that we have
been short listed, as we believe that the
Boat Place will really help to get messages
across to people about how to enjoy wildlife
without causing disturbance.
Over
the years we have seen a growing interest
from the public in the Bay’s marine
wildlife, particularly the bottlenose dolphin
population. Dolphins are a protected species
and we know that boats, if not handled appropriately,
can cause them disturbance either from underwater
engine noise, or by approaching animals
too closely.
|
|
Ceredigion Recreational
Boating Code of Conduct
Liz Allan, Conservation Management officer
at Ceredigion County Council
|
Ceredigion
was one of the first Councils in the UK
to introduce a Marine Code of Conduct
and we have been monitoring compliance
since 1994 through the popular annual
Dolphin Watch. Recent results have been
encouraging as they show a high proportion
of boat encounters with dolphins clearly
taking place in accordance with the code
of conduct. That said it is clear from
the data that the boats most frequently
offending were boats that habitually travel
at high speeds. So there is still work
to be done and we are grateful to the
Crown Estate for their support.
People
might like to know that this year's Dolphin
Watch starts on June 7th and there will
be a meeting and training session at the
New Quay Yacht Club on May 14th at 7:30pm
for anybody wanting to join us. Hanna
Nuutilla from the Sea Watch Foundation
will also be giving an illustrated presentation
on identifying Cardigan Bay cetaceans
and their behaviours.'
The
Cardigan Bay Boat Place is open Friday
- Monday, 12 - 6pm until end of September.
Results of the awards are expected later
in the year.
Click
here to download:
|
|
|
@
Janet Baxter
|
|
|
|
VOLUNTEER!
We
are looking for volunteers to help with the
running of the Boat Place this season, so
if you think you would like to get involved,
please get in touch.
(Ph.
01545 561074
annalisab@ceredigion.gov.uk)
|
The boat place is also on the BBC Wales website. Click
below to have a look:
The Boat place on the BBC website
The
Cardigan Bay Boat Place is a Ceredigion
County Council initiative.
Our
thanks go to:
The
Crown Estate
- For proving us with a grant from the Marine
Stewardship fund.
- For doing the official opening of the
Cardigan Bay Boat Place on the 10th of May
2006.
Mr
D.C. Davies and the members of
the Ceredigion Coastal Protection
Society
- For kindly donating
2000£ towards the Cardigan Bay Boat
Place
- For honouring us with his presence on
the opening day of the Boat Place.
Chllr. Hag Harries
- For his
words of support at the official opening
of the Cardigan Bay Boat Place.
|
|
|
Mr Davies from the Cardiganshire Coastal Protection
Society and his wife at the official opening
of the Boat Place.
Chllr Hag Harries (middle) and Ian Dutch (Right)
and Liz Allan (left) of the Coast and Countryside
Section.
|
We further wish
to thank all the people who with their skills
and expertise have made the creation of
the Boat Place possible. We especially
thank Janet Baxter (photography), Pod Claire
(mosaiques), Sian Crandon of ACT (panel
design), Steve Delmonte of Humorous illustrations
(Code of Conduct cartoon illustration),
Steve Gates (woodwork on touchy-feely box
and threats panels), Duncan Gough of Hoopoe
Design (wood work and Code of Conduct game
display), Rohan Holt (photography), Simon
Keith (carpentry), Tom McOwatt (leaflet
design), Roger Rappley and Edward Land (camera
installation and IT), Hilary Wilson of Spiny
Software (Code of Conduct game software),
Neil Winter of South Wales Cameras (camera
installation). |
|
|
|
Back to latest news page
|
|
|
|
|
|
