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North West Marine Ecosystems

 

Join the North West Marine Ecosystems (NWME) Pilot Programme:

Are you passionate about the future of our marine environment? The North West Marine Ecosystems (NWME) pilot is an exciting new initiative to improve our understanding of marine and coastal ecosystems in the region. By bringing together academics, citizen scientists, and coastal and marine professionals, we aim to build a community dedicated to advancing marine research and management.

Why Get Involved?

  • Contribute to the first annual State of the North West Marine Ecosystem report.
  • Connect with others who care about the future of our seas, from scientists to local volunteers.
  • Join a topic or interest based group – a Community of Practice (CoP) to share your expertise and insights.
  • Help shape better decisions with evidence-based approaches.

What Will You Do?

  • Participate in topic-specific webinars and discussions.
  • Collaborate on key themes such as marine ecology, fisheries, and plastic pollution.
  • Share data, research, and ideas that can inform long-term marine monitoring and management.

The NWME programme builds on successful models like the South West Marine Ecosystems (SWME) initiative, which has been informing marine management for over a decade. And East Marine Ecosystems which had its first conference in 2024.

Join a Community of Practice

In the NWME initiative, we have set up Communities of Practice. These Communities of Practice include:

  • Oceanography
  • Plankton
  • Marine and Coastal Birds
  • Marine Mammals
  • Fisheries
  • Marine Protected Areas
  • Water Quality
  • Marine Planning
  • Marine Plastics
  • Radioactive Monitoring 
  • Underwater Noise
  • Energy and Development
  • Seabed and Seashore

To register your interest in joining a Community of Practice, please email Linn Wiberg at [email protected], specifying which Community(ies) of Practice you would like to join. Linn will then provide you with further information.

You can also contact us via: [email protected].

 

NWME 2025

Please find a Conference Summary of NWME 2025 here. 

Next Steps

We will be running our second Conference in 2026, funding dependent. 

The NW Marine Ecosystem Pilot is funded by Defra’s Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme (mNCEA) and managed by the EA through the Land-Sea Interface project. The work is being taken forward by the North West Coastal Forum together with Ocean and Coastal Futures.

This is our opportunity to make a difference to the marine ecosystem of our regional sea – the Irish Sea, NW England.

More detail in the background document here: North-West-Marine-Ecosystems-pilot-1.pdf