South-West Marine Ecosystems Communications
South-West Marine Ecosystems has been running since 2007 and has developed significantly since Covid.
SWME’s main focus is to report on the annual changes in the natural marine systems and their management in the south-west. The thematic topics SWME covers include oceanography, plankton, the seabed and seashore, fish, seabirds, seals and whales and dolphins. The management themes include planning, protected areas, fisheries, water quality and plastic pollution.
SWME has sought through its developing communications to reach out to a wide range of the public, citizen and professional scientists and managers. The communications have developed beyond the annual conference to include webinars on all the topics, which are recorded and can be viewed on the SWME YouTube channel as well as other social media channels. The main focus of the communication is to produce an annual State of the South-West Seas report which provide an early warning of changes in the marine environment.
For a more detailed description of how SWME works see the organisation box which includes a detailed paper on the SWME Model. There are also videos on the YouTube channel which describe how SWME works.
Thanks to Keith Hiscock and Tony Taylor for the images.
Networking – Building Connections and Outreach
You can keep in touch with the programme and activities of SWME by signing up. Weekly mailings in the spring will keep you in touch with the webinar programme and the conference which is held in the spring.
Outreach through a variety of channels. Email, YouTube and other social media provide routes to communicating with over 1500 contacts in the south-west.