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The Seahorse Trust is based in East Devon and is in a position to offer an unpaid internship for the right motivated person. The Seahorse Trust is the leading Seahorse based charity in the world and has projects in the UK, Cambodia, and Malta, and advises projects all over the world. The Seahorse Trust also advises governments, NGO’s, organisations and individuals on seahorse and conservation-related work.

The Trust runs the British Seahorse Survey which was set up in 1994 and it also runs the National Seahorse Database.

The Seahorse Trust was set up 2000 to continue the work of the Trusts founder who has worked with seahorses for 30 years and is a not for profit charitable organisation.

For more information go to www.theseahorsetrust.org

The Post

This exciting opportunity would appeal to newly graduated students from the following degree courses, or possibly anybody with the right interests and proven conservation and environmental experience:

• Conservation Biology
• Wildlife Conservation Management
• Marine Conservation

Most graduates and interested persons struggle to gain successful employment in their area of expertise due to competition for the available positions, so an opportunity to undertake volunteering through an unpaid voluntary internship will allow them to gain practical conservation skills.

The Seahorse Trust is ideally placed to provide this type of CV enhancing experience through its diverse range of projects and experiences.

Potential Tasks to be undertaken by an Intern

• Maintenance of the British Seahorse Survey Database.
• Evaluating data collected and collated.
• Maintenance and promotion of the adoptions programme.
• Completion of funding applications.
• Running the Seahorse Trust Social Media channels.
• Helping to maintain the Seahorse Displays at Escot.
• Leading teams of volunteers to carry out stakeholder engagement, habitat assessments.
• Working with our partner projects in (via the internet) Ireland, Cambodia, Malta and Malaysia, and other parts of the world.
• Website development.
• Public Relations planning and implementation.
• Schools Outreach Programmes.
• Public Talks.

Not all posts would need to be physically located at Escot (but this would definitely be a preference) as many of the tasks could be carried out remotely, for instance managing the online presence of the Trust, completion of funding applications, school outreach and public talks, etc.

Period of internship

8 to 12 weeks (to be discussed)

Skills required and/or preferred

• IT skills, especially Excel, Word and Power Point
• Proven interest in conservation
• Analytical skills
• Preferably knowledge of seahorses but this is not compulsory
• Being adaptable to changing conditions and circumstances
• Being self motivated and able to work unsupervised

Applications

Please send a full CV to info@localhost

• Closing deadline 12^th September 2012
• Start date 8^th October 2012

Dear all, it never ceases to amaze us here at the trust as to how kind people are when it comes to nature conservation and the latest example of this is from Carly Ralph from Etsy who has kindly offered to donate 100% from the sale of her Seahorse cushions.
Carly saw the article in the Mail Online and the YOUTube video and decided to do something positive for the seahorses so has made this really kind offer.
You can look at and buy her cushions on http://www.etsy.com/listing/106175016/all-sales-donated-to-the-seahorse-trust and I would like to thank her on behalf of the trust and especially the seahorses.

The Mail online ran an article today about the Traditional Medicine Trade, which takes in excess of 150 million seahorses from the wild every year. This is not sustainable and something needs to be done to stop this.

The Mail online has 90 million subscribers worldwide, the biggest in the world, so it was great coverage
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183501/Seahorses-facing-oblivion-10-years-stocks-savaged-Chinese-medicine-industry.html

We are putting together a campaign website with Save Our Seahorses in Ireland and hope you will all sign up to our online petition

Dear all,

please have a look at this 8 minute film about seahorses and the traditional medicine trade. This film has been cut together from an hour long documentary called The Seahorseman which is to be shown on the 24th of August on the Eden Channel. The Seahorseman was put together by Gillian Marsh TV in Ireland who have been following our friend Kealan Doyle from Seahorses Aquariums for many years and this is the latest of many documentaries about him, The Seahorse Trust and our parnership.

This short but very informative film http://youtu.be/F3QnbFTNzgQ was put together with our thanks by Widlaid using GMTV’s footage and is being seen on 93% of internal flights in China, to help educate about the problems of the medicine trade and its devastating affect on seahorses in the wild. It is hoped that the sort of up and coming young Chinese who use these flights will help to change the use of Seahorses and other species in this trade which is not sustainable.

With our partners at Save Our Seahorses, the SEALIFE Centres and others we are putting together a Seahorse Alliance made up of many groups, organisations and individuals to make a difference. A dedictaed website is being put together at the moment and you will have your chance to have your voice heard by siging a petition against this use of seahorses and others species in the TCM trade.

Please support us to help them

Thank you

A conservation partnership between The Seahorse Trust and London Zoological Society was given luxury travel last week. The Seahorse Trust was given some Short Snouted Seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) from London Zoo as part of a long term breeding project but the cost of transporting the Seahorses from London to Devon was just too much to find, so Pete smith from GAC Logistics kindly stepped in and transported the seahorses in his car from London to the trust in Devon. This amazing gesture meant that the seahorses arrived in style and comfort. We would like to offer our thanks to London Zoo for the seahorses but especially GAC and Pete Smith for kindly stepping in to bring them to us. We hope now that they arrived nice and relaxed the seahorses will get around to the serious business of breeding to secure a population in captivity.

Pete with his precious cargo as it is opened in Devon

A Shout Snouted Seahorse settled in its tank

Dive Charter skipper Rick Parker has kindly offered to help the trust by organizing dives in aid of The Seahorse Trust. Rick has kindly offered to donate a percentage of the dive fee to the work of the trust.

If you want to organise a dive in aid of the trust get in touch with Rick on jenniferann@deepsea.co.uk and don’t forget to say it is in aid of the trust. We would like to say thank you to Rick for his kindness, this year is a very difficult time for dive charters due to the economy and weather which makes this offer doubly kind.

http://www.jenniferanncharters.co.uk/

East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club held its third annual Seahorse Swim race at Knoll Beach in Studland. The event was an amazzing success with over 130 swimmers taking part from all over the country. It was held by kind permission of the National Trust and supported the work of The Seahorse Trust amongst others such as the National Trust and St. John’s Ambulance.

The race was over a standard triathlon distance of 3.8 kms and produced a highly competitive race.

Despite heavy overnight rain and high winds, the weather relented in time for the start. The water temperature was a cool 13.7 degrees centigrade causing a couple of competitors to retire with the cold. However, the swimmers were delighted with the friendly rivalry in this well organised event held in good conditions

Bob Holman, chairman of the club said “We have had a fantastic day and all our swimmers have been complimenting us on providing a great swim”. The club was greatly assisted for the safety cover by RLSS Poole Lifeguard, Branksome Surf Life Saving Club, Bournemouth Lifeguard Corps, RLSS Boscombe Lifeguards, Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club and Christchurch Life Saving Club.

This is the second year Bob and the club have kindly supported The Seahorse Trust and they raised a staggering £150 for our work. We are extremely grateful to them for there amazing efforts and admire the incredible feats of swimming that were undertaken and would like to than k one and all for there feat.

The results were

Men’s Open wetsuit: Guy Giles, Wantage White Horses 47 minutes 47 seconds

Ladies Open wetsuit: Naomi Vides, Poole Swimming Club 54 minutes 40 seconds

Men’s Open non-wetsuit: Steven Hurley, Exeter City Swimming Club 55 minutes 31 seconds

Ladies Open non-wetsuit: Joanne Ball, East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club 1 hour 4 minutes 26 seconds

Roy Harding Trophy for first male non-wetsuit over 40: Stuart Purcell, East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club 55 minutes 38 seconds

Roy Harding Trophy for first female non-wetsuit over 40: Kate Mason, Weyport Masters 1 hour 10 minutes 33 seconds

Volunteer diver Steph found her first seahorse on Saturday. Felix, named by Steph is a male Spiny Seahorse that has a developed pouch but was not pregnant when we saw him, which was surprise as it is near the full moon, the optimum time for seahorses to give Birth. The huge smile on Stephs face said it all when we came to the surface and she could not stop smiling for ages afterwards.
Felix pictured below was 13.5 cm long and was just big enough to tag and his official number is 002. We will now follow Felix’s movements throughout the season and the information we gather will help us to ensure further protection for seahorses here in the UK.
By working with others such as SOS in Ireland, MCC in Cambodia, the people of Cambodia, SOS in Malaysia, the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and the SEALIFE Group around the world we can work towards a better future for seahorses and other marine species around the globe.

FELIX THE SEAHORSE AS SEEN BY VOLUNTEER STEPH

During our trip to Cambodia, Kelan from Save Our Seahorses (Ireland) and Neil from the trust did a talk on the work we are doing around the world and how we can work with and help to enhance the project in Cambodia.

Neil talking about the British Seahorse Survey

Neil on the left, Paul (MD of Marine Conservation Cambodia) in the centre and Kealan from save our Seahorses after the talk answering some of the many questions they were asked from the volunteers.

We would like to give a warm welcome to Professor Jack Cohen FIBiol., DSc., who has kindly come on board as a patron of the trust. Jack has an incredible career in aquatics and as an advisor on films and books.

Polymath, sympathetic biologist and creator of credible aliens, Prof Jack began a lifelong interest in fish as boy in the 1940s – importing and breeding tropical species long before it was common to do so. His academic career led him from cell culture to human fertility and complexity theory, yet he has always maintained his fascination with things aquatic and inspired many students by keeping fish in his departments.

Those of you from an academic background are unlikely to need us to introduce Professor Jack Cohen, so well known is he and his work within the field of biology – at Birmingham University for some thirty years and later at Warwick University. He denies being a mathematician, despite having been made an Honorary Professor in that Institute.

Many of  Jack’s former students have made their own mark on the world of science; including one who developed the use of DNA-fingerprinting and one who received a Nobel prize.

Author of  numerous scientific books and research papers, Jack is also known for his popular science publications, and has been involved in many science and natural history programmes on television and radio including Horizon and Attenborough’s Trials of Life. Notable science-fiction authors such as  Anne McCaffrey and Jerry Pournelle consult him to design alien creatures and ecologies, and recently he has been collaborating with Ian Stewart to create the Science of Discworld series with Terry Pratchett.

Jack’s public lectures, which he continues to deliver, include titles like ‘The possibility of life on other planets’, ‘Why is Mickey Mouse?’ and ‘Why so many sperms?’, while his day schools and evening courses have included: Techniques for Biologists and Naturalists, Freshwater Ecology, Aquaria in Classrooms, and Animal Handling. Although now mostly retired, he continues to write and campaign to promote public awareness and understanding of science.

If you imagine him to be a stuffy old-fashioned Prof – you are mistaken. He is one of the kindest, most entertaining chaps one could meet and we are delighted he has accepted our invitation to become a Seahorse Trust patron.