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Dear all,

Happy New Year to you all and thank you for your amazing support in 2012, without you we could not have done so much.

2013 is set to be a very busy year and we all need to push hard to help protect not just the Seahorses but our Oceans as well.

Sadly, in 2012 the government announced it’s watered down version of the Marine Protected Zones (MPZ’s), which means we now have to go through a long consultation  process to get one of the most important sites for Spiny Seahorses in Europe put forward for protection in 2013.

Studland Bay is a proposed Marine Protected Zones (pMPZ’s); it is set to be made an MPZ in the future but Studland Bay in Dorset does not have the time as has been shown by a recent report by Dr’s Jackson and Collins in their MAIA Report. The seagrass at Studland is fragmenting and as our own research has shown the number of seahorses has dropped from 59 in the second half of 2008 down to 7 identified individuals in 2012; time is not on the seahorses side. Please lobby your MP and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) urgently. Go onto the website below and look at the details and make your voice heard.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/12/13/marine-conservation-zones-1212/

Push to have Studland Bay put on the first tranche of MPZ’s for 2013 before we lose the Spiny Seahorses on the site forever.

Many thanks to one and all

Neil

Neil Garrick-Maidment Executive Director, The Seahorse Trust

Dear all,

We would like to wish you all a Happy and Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2013 from everyone here at the trust.

2012 has been a great year with so much work done here at the trust but 2013 is going to be even busier with a lot more things to do and so many more projects to work on; none of this would have been possible without your support and help, so thank you to you all.

The Seahorse Trust is quite a small trust in the world but we achieve so much because we have great supporters and volunteers, all of whom have so much enthusiasm and drive and keep us going.

Being a small charity we are totally reliant on the kindness of others to keep going so adoptions and memberships are vital to allow us to generate funds and importantly to let people know what we are doing. They make great presents and please don’t forget to Gift aid them.

If you are planning any events for 2013 in aid of the trust you can do this securely through one of the donation sites listed on our website.

The supporters of the trust act as ambassadors for the work and without you going out there spreading the word, the problems facing seahorses would not be known about, so thank you for this.

However we do need funds to do our work so if you have any fund raising drives, events, donations or schemes to help us plan our future work, then please let us know.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL AND HAVE A PEACEFUL 2013

The government have just released their proposal for the first release of Marine Conservation Zones for 2013 and to their shame they have left of, one of the most important and threatened areas for Spiny Seahorses in the UK and possibly Europe, Studland Bay. The bay has been put forward as a proposed MPZ at some later stage but not in the first tranché, which means it could be years before it gets protected; meanwhile the seagrass bed has been proven (without doubt) to be fragmenting as has been shown by the recent report by MAIA and by Dr Ken Collins paper released a couple of years ago. yet the authorities sit back and let this vital site for Spiny Seahorses be destroyed.  Without the seagrass at Studland there will be no spiny Seahorses there, they rely on this vitally important habitat.

In 2008 we found over 50 seahorses and each year since the number has been dropping rapidly to this year where we only found 11.

We need your help please, go onto the website below and lobby them to include studland into the first tranché of MPZ’s for 2013 before it is too late. Meanwhile we will be resubmitting our data (for the third time) to try and get them to change their minds.If there is a site in the UK that should qualify first and foremost for protection it is Studland Bay. Not only does it have the seahorses (both species), it also has the fragile seagrass, English Oysters, Undulate Rays, truncated anenomes and a host of other threatened and endangered species.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/12/13/marine-conservation-zones-1212/

Make you voice heard and let them know how you feel, before the seahorses are gone from Studland forever; it is not too late, we have until march 2013 to get them to change their minds.

The Seahorse Trust talk was a huge success at Falmouth Aquarium ( http://www.facebook.com/falmouthaquarium ) on the 26th November, despite the awful weather and flooded roads, over 40 people attended! Lots of Exexter University, Falmouth Marine School students and members of the public attended, it was a great turn out. The aim was to educate the public on the importance of preserving habitats that seahorses are found in, the prime example being seagrass beds, protection of their home means protecting them as a species. The Seahorse Tagging project was also discussed and how the findings have been insightful in their ecology and reproduction. There were many questions and donations given to this important charity – hopefully a talk that will be repeated in the future! – Lauren Timson

Many thanks to Lauren for her hard work

We would like to thank Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire for the kind donation of £405 pounds which the staff and guest raised in aid of the trusts work.

Everyone at the aquarium worked hard to generate these much needed funds and so a massive thank you to them all.

www.blueplanetaquarium.co.uk

Amazing artwork by 7 year old Maria
28-11-2012

Here at the trust we are always pleased to receive feedback from seahorse fans from all around the world and this morning we received this amazing picture by 7 year old Maria from Glasgow, Scotland. As well as this colourful picture of seahorses we also received a seahorse shaped notebook handmade by Maria and she has kindly saved up her birthday money and sent us £10 towards our work.

Without the amazing support by seahorse fans like Maria we could not do our work and we would like to thank her for thinking of the seahorses when she got her birthday money. We will make sure her money will go towards the work we do in conserving British seahorses, which are also found around Scotland. Earlier this year both types of seahorse, the Spiny and the Short Snouted were protected in Scotland which the trust helped to put into place.

Thank you Maria for your amazing support.

I just wanted to say a massive thansk to Blue Planet Aquarium at Ellesmere, who kindly donated £405.50 towards the work of the trust. This money will be put towards our British Seahorse conservation work and without the generosity of people like Blue Planet we would not be able to do this. Thank you to them all for their hard work in rasing this. www.blueplanetaquarium.com

Ben Toulson and the team from Exeter Universities Expedition Society are planning a terrestrial survey of Koh Rong Samelon in Cambodia as part of the widening overall survey and conservation of this amazing area. Ben has put together a Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/expeditioncambodia
that gives others the chance to get involved with this incredible work. there is still the possibility to also get involved with the marine seahorse survey and research as well by going to Project Abroads website at
http://www.projects-abroad.co.uk/volunteer-projects/conservation-and-environment/cambodia/

We are always pleased when the trusts younger supporters show what talent they have. We were sent this amazing poem by 9-year-old Gabriela last week, thank you