Published: 9th April 2019

Visualising the Undersea World

(Photo Credit: Paula Lightfoot)

One of the difficulties that conservationists often face when trying to explain the marine world is that, for the majority of people, the places we are trying to protect cannot be experienced directly and remain hidden from view below the surface of the sea. Documentaries such as Blue Planet can be an important way of building understanding by allowing the public to see and appreciate an undersea world which might otherwise be inaccessible to them. Closer to home a number of organisations have made video footage of our local marine environment available online, which can be a valuable tool in helping to demonstrate the features which we are aiming to conserve.

Natural England has produced a series of videos showing the underwater landscapes of the English coast, including this sequence covering the area from Lindisfarne to Spurn Point.

Also available from Natural England are two short films which look (from a national level) at the life found in mud and sand, and on rocky reefs – habitats that are all of high importance to us on the North East coast.

Scottish Natural Heritage also have some great online resources, such as a series of virtual dives, and this footage of diving guillemots at Petticowick near St Abbs