John Aitchison, Champion of the Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot Named a Disney Conservation Hero

June 8, 2022

John Aitchison, Hope Spot Champion of Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot has been recognized as a 2021 Disney Conservation Hero. Aitchison is a wildlife filmmaker who lives in Scotland and has dedicated much of his life to the conservation of the critically endangered species that live in his blue backyard, including the elusive flapper skate. He is also the chair of Friends of the Sound of Jura, one of the many organizations that make up the Coastal Communities Network Scotland, supported by Fauna and Flora International.

In our conversation with Aitchison, he describes what this exciting recognition means for the Argyll Coast community and shares what’s next for Scotland’s Hope Spot.

---

Mission Blue: Congratulations on this wonderful recognition! What does this mean for your organization and your activities in the Hope Spot?

John Aitchison: It’s really an honor to be recognized in this way. From my point of view, it’s not particularly about me. What is going on in this area is a community effort – groups of communities throughout the Hope Spot, actually! Four of these communities came together to nominate the Hope Spot, which was designated in 2019. They’re all involved with our work, and our strong community is what Disney mentioned as one of the reasons for the award. They’re all to thank for this recognition.

MB: We launched the Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot in June of 2019; almost exactly three years ago! How has the Hope Spot evolved since then?

JA: One of the biggest endeavors in the Hope Spot right now is restoring seagrass and native oysters in two sea lochs. The community support for both projects has been fantastic, with people of all ages coming to help plant the seagrass. In Loch Craignish, the project run by Seawilding takes seeds from the plants and put them in bags and then put those bags on a seabed. The same group is releasing native oysters as well, which they’re rearing, and the primary school is involved with that. Another group is also doing the same thing with oysters elsewhere in the Hope Spot. It’s really wonderful to see.

 

 

MB: It can be really difficult to bring more public awareness to the greater community and provide educational opportunities. Your group is working on an interesting project – tell us about that.

JA: We’re preparing this year to do a collaborative project with a number of the primary schools, for children up to about the age of twelve who attend school within a few miles of the coast in the Hope Spot area. We’ve grappled with the question, How do you show them what’s there without necessarily being able to see it? One thing we’ve done, for instance, is making a life-size picture; a piece of art of a flapper skate printed on a huge cloth to roll out on the floor for kids to see how large these animals can really get – they are typically one to three meters long! It’s a creative way to bring the ocean to kids and show them an animal they wouldn’t normally get to see. In the future, we’re hoping to plan boat trips for each school.

MB: How would you say the pandemic affected Hope Spot activities, and what is your approach now that we’re emerging from the thick of it?

JA: For us, we really rely on the community to come out and work together. Before the pandemic, we had marine survey work being done, in which volunteers use an underwater camera on a cable that we can use to document the life we see down there. Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to get people out in large enough numbers to do that sort of thing. We really hope that more people will start to gather this summer. 

 

 

 

MB: Is there a way for people who live near the Argyll Coast to help and get involved? 

JA: Yes! There are a couple of ways to get involved. We’re looking for more hands to help with the native oysters and seagrass restoration projects. There’s a volunteer component to collecting the seeds and processing them and seeding them out. For helping out with our underwater camera surveys, there’s a specific cohort of people who we’re looking for; people with marine biology knowledge and experience, because we have to be able to identify what it is we’re seeing down there. We can always find ways to turn donations into more education and conservation effort too!

You can learn more about Coastal Communities Network Scotland here.

 

 

MB: That’s wonderful! I hope you meet some new faces soon. What’s next for the Hope Spot?

JA: As we move forward, we’re asking four questions. One is, what’s here? The next is, how’s it doing? The next two questions are on behalf of people who come here or live here: does what lives in the sea in the Hope Spot need help? And if so, what can I do? That’s why we’re interested in doing surveys to answer the “what’s here?” question. With further science, we can answer, “how’s it doing?” Finally, we’re finding out what needs our help and how we can do that by talking to people – bridging more connections and having conversations with politicians and leaders of local industries about policy considerations. It also might mean persuading the public to get involved with direct conservation efforts like restoring nature.

 

 

MB: What can be done on a larger scale to protect Scotland’s marine ecosystems? 

JA: We’re very actively involved in lobbying for change. The Scottish government has become more interested in biodiversity loss, and more now than ever before, they’re really listening to and consulting the people who have this expertise. For example, the government is interested in changing regulations for fish farming due to parasites that impact wild salmon and sea trout. The organization that unites many of Scotland’s coastal groups, including the ones that nominated the Argyll Hope Spot, Coastal Communities Network, has made good use of computer modeling of the dispersion of the parasites to observe where specifically they accumulate. It’s a long haul; it’s not quick. By being prepared, getting ahead, finding funding, and then commissioning research and developing knowledge, we’ve been able to be ready when the opportunity came to talk to the government about this.

Finally, I think it’s all very timely for young people. They’re concerned about the way the world is changing. We owe it to them to act locally and think globally. We do not have to accept this is something we just have to put up with. None of us can do it alone, but everyone can do something. It can be quite a small thing to start with, and then you can build it. That’s the message that we’re trying to pass on. Our group now consists of 23 different groups, representing thousands of people. It’s become clear to the politicians that the public cares about the sea and they care about climate change and they care about biodiversity loss. We are in a good position to push to make a difference.