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We are evolving the Common Seas website, which will be online shortly.
We are prioritising a twin-pronged approach:
Profitable and sustainable inshore fisheries and marine habitats can best be achieved by local, dynamic, seasonal and spatial management of fisheries and conservation areas. Commons Seas is working with fishery management and technical organisations to implement technologies and policies to monitoring and manage fishing activities across UK inshore waters.
Vessels in the Devon and Severn fishing district will be celebrating World Oceans Day with a difference this year as they take part in a groundbreaking new programme activating technology to provide greater transparency and traceability across the inshore fishing sector.
Read more here
Jo Royle, Managing Director
Jo Royle is a Sea Champion with nearly 20 years experience spearheading global marine programs and trans Ocean sailing ventures. She founded Common Seas to deliver policies, systems and technologies that enhance the productivity and resilience of the Ocean.
Simon Harrison, Director
Simon Harrison has been a shipping industry executive for over 30 years. He is a Director of Common Seas, where he combines his business experience and relationships to solve the issue of plastic pollution in ways that make sense for both the environment and economy. Simon is also a long term partner of Andonis and Filippos Lemos and a Trustee of their recently formed charitable foundation.
Ben Jack, Director of Programme Delivery
Ben Jack has supported international projects addressing complex environmental sustainability challenges for over ten years. From coral reefs and mangrove forests to the jungles of Borneo, Ben has dedicated his career to delivering meaningful action and has worked extensively with a broad range of influencers, including fishing communities in The Philippines and multinational businesses.
Sophie Thomas, Circular Economy Specialist
Sophie Thomas has worked with Common Seas for over five years, facilitating groups of business leaders to inspire the UK Plastic Pact. She is a recognised leader in the investigation and promotion of circular economy design principles to tackle the marine plastic pollution problem. In 2012, she founded The Great Recovery, a programme that builds capacity and understanding around circular design in the materials supply chain.
Alice Beese, Operations Manager
Alice Beese has a background in operations and community management for pioneering social and environmental businesses including The Do Lectures, TYF, Civic and Swarm. At Unreasonable Group she supported entrepreneurs tackling the world’s greatest challenges to scale.
Jamie Buchannon-Dunlop, Educator, Founder Digital Explorer
Jamie Buchannon-Dunlop is an experienced educator creating new ways for children to learn about their changing world. He has worked both inside and outside the classroom, with expeditionary education programmes seeing him work in both polar regions and plenty of places in between.
Dr. Richard Thompson OBE Marine biology to behaviour change ‘Godfather of micro plastics research’. Plymouth University
Dr Lucy Woodall is the lead scientist on the Common Seas Wedges approach. She published a number of papers on microplastics and marine litter and is actively involved in consultations and marine litter research and lectures in marine ecology at Oxford University. Lucy is an expert in deep-sea biology and her current work broadly focuses on the processes that drive biodiversity in the marine biome.
“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides”
