Adopt a Bay
Traditional Seaweed pressing
Introduction
Adopt a Bay is a community-led citizen science project on the northwest coast of the Scottish Highlands. It invites you to care for your local bay by collecting and recording seaweeds. By combining the traditional art of seaweed pressing with modern science, we aim to build a valuable record of our coastal ecosystems.
How it Evolved
The idea for Adopt a Bay grew out of a special maerl dive survey week hosted by Blue Hope Alliance in May 2024. Experts from Seasearch East joined us to help collect and identify seaweeds, and during a seaweed pressing evening at the Coigach Community Hall, Achiltibuie, community members suggested using this tradition to contribute to marine science. From there, Adopt a Bay was born.
What is Adopt a Bay?
We invite you to become a custodian of your bay by collecting seaweeds that either wash ashore – or if snorkelling then carefully cut them with scissors without harming the mother plant – and create pressed records of the species you find. This simple act helps build a picture of the species within the area and over time records the changing life along our coastlines.
Seaweed pressing has deep roots in the Victorian era, where it was both an art form and a method for studying coastal habitats. During this time, many naturalists and enthusiasts documented marine species through pressed collections, creating valuable records of coastal biodiversity. These historical collections now serve as important references for scientists, allowing us to compare past and present seaweed populations and better understand how marine environments have changed over time.
By pressing and recording seaweeds, you’re contributing to a growing knowledge of coastal biodiversity. Your findings will help scientists monitor environmental changes, understand shifts in biodiversity, and support conservation efforts. Together, we can document the rich diversity of our bays and protect them for future generations.