Edmiston Foundation reflects on successful partnerships in 2022

Our partnership with the Conservation Collective began in 2021 with the aim of boosting support for grassroots marine conservation projects.

The Conservation Collective runs projects across the world, but with this partnership, we chose to focus on five projects in places our clients travel regularly to – in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean – to maximise support from yacht Owners, staff, and brokers.

Through the Edmiston Foundation, we were able to garner support for each of these local community-driven projects through funding and in a final-year report, the Conservation Collective says that the “positive outcomes coming out of the field during the reporting period could not have been achieved without these crucial funds.”

Our support of a project to end illegal fisheries and fish fraud in the Balearics, has seen public discourse on the controversial topic opened and a project manager has been employed to convene the steering group. We are pleased to say there is now optimism that the project has “real capacity to bring change.”

In St Vincent & the Grenadines, a project to establish a network of turtle monitors to collect data regarding the current nesting population or the marine animals to guide future conservation efforts has proved successful. The engaged community network is now better informed about how to safeguard nesting turtles and will hopefully continue to ward off activities such as illegal poaching, which threaten sea turtle populations.

In Barbados, the DigiFish project saw 30 small vessels equipped with tracking devices to help inform marine spatial planning and aid fisherfolk in deciding where the most sustainable fishing areas are. The project has been considered so successful that St Vincent and the Grenadine is already considering replicating the project.

In the Cyclades, the Posidonia Alert project set out to protect a precious Mediterranean seagrass – Posidonia oceanica – by raising awareness and identifying areas most at risk by anchoring. It is now hoped this model can be replicated and scaled up.

And finally, in the Ionian, the Pick the Alien project sought to promote the consumption of invasive species through gastronomy to safeguard and protect native species. In 2022, several tasting menu events took place across the region, with more than 450 participants, and a recipe book designed by local chefs was created. The Conservation Collective says that the project is likely to achieve its aim of encouraging fishermen to source invasive species instead.

The aim of the partnership between Edmiston and the United Kingdom Sailing Academy (UKSA) is to improve accessibility to the marine world for people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Coming to the end of its busiest season ever, which has seen more people being welcomed onto its campus on the Isle of Wight than in any other year, we are confident that the project is working. The UKSA says, “Thanks to funding from the Edmiston Foundation, many of these are children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who would never otherwise have the opportunity to experience an adventure on the water or train for a career in the maritime industry.”

The Foundation supports UKSA students along each stage of their pathways into employment, from an inner-city child going on the water for the first time through to a young person from a challenging background being funded onto a careers programme.

Thanks to the Edmiston Foundation, in 2022 alone, 275 beneficiaries from seven schools have been funded to come to UKSA on a school trip. While there, they have been taught vital life skills while taking part in fun activities on the water. UKSA has also welcomed 47 funded students from Tile Cross Academy, one of the most deprived schools in England, to take part in their Sea.Change Foundation, a five-day residential programme designed to give 14–17-year-olds the opportunity to experience a wide range of water-based activities and learn about career options in the maritime world.

On top of this, 10 beneficiaries have received funding to receive further education or join career courses and one young person has been supported onto UKSA’s Cadetship programme.

There’s still lots to come, the Foundation is continuing to fund children and young people to grow, learn and train to become the best versions of themselves, and here at Edmiston, we couldn’t be prouder.

If you would like to find out more about the Edmiston Foundation, please contact us.