Building Coastal Communities Seminar update-17/09/07

The Building Coastal Communities Seminar was held at the Palace Hotel, Peterhead last week and has been deemed a great success. The aim of the seminar was to examine ways in which local communities have improved the coast in their area. Excellent presentations were given from all of the presenters on a variety of topics including;

• The Small Town Projects – Arthur Gill (Aberdeenshire Council)
• The Da Voar Redd Up – A report from Sarah Gosden (Aberdeenshire Coastal Ranger)
• Improving Stonehaven - Mary Jackson, Rosemary Clark (Stonehaven Horizon Project)
• Harbours for the Community - Cllr Storr
• Saving Small Harbours - Duncan Bell (University of Aberdeen)
• EGCP e-forum – Ian Hay (EGCP)
• Community Grant Scheme - Emily Hastings (EGCP)
• Chairman's Report - Captin Robbie Middleton

If you wish to ask the presenters any questions about their projects please post them on the e-forum.

"Just to say congratulations and well done to all at EGCP for a most informative and worthwhile seminar last week in Peterhead. The information disseminated at the seminar was very helpful and it was useful to meet people involved in community activity from other coastal towns and villages at the same time." Councillor Stephen Smith via the e-forum

A Great Big Thank You 15/09/07

EGCP would like to say thank you to all those who took part in this years NORCET surveys which involves volunteers carrying out whale and dolphin surveys on the MV Hascosay en route to the Northern Isles. The surveys can be hard work and take up a lot of time but nevertheless our volunteers worked hard and had some interesting sightings, including Risso's dolphins, Minke whales, White Beaked dolphins and Bottlenose dolphins.

Such research is very important to determine cetacean numbers in our waters and how the species present are affected by factors such as food availability and climate change which is fundamental in ensuring their long term protection. Without such data and the work of the volunteers this work would be extremely difficult, so thank you to all of you who gave up your time to help.

Community Grant Scheme open for applications 15/09/07

The Community Grant Scheme, now in its third year offers small grants of up to £1000, which are available to non profit making groups such as community groups and schools for projects which benefit the natural environment of the coast, the local area, the community and its visitors.  The scheme is now open to applications. For more information on the scheme and details of how to apply, please click here. If you would like to discuss a potential project, please do not hesitate to get in touch.