Forward look 2020 - 2025 by Susan Davies
We have been working with our Board of Trustees, staff, partners and stakeholders to develop a strategic view on what our priorities should be for 2020-2025. This planning comes at a time when global awareness of marine environments, the pressures these are under and the need to act is rapidly growing. 2020 is also our 20th anniversary and the Scottish Government’s Year of Coast and Waters and both provide a platform for telling a wider story about Scotland’s seas. Our new organisational vision reflects our intention to extend our remit from a focus primarily on seabirds to one which covers Scotland’s seas and the diversity of amazing wildlife it supports in the broadest way. Our vision is “To help ensure that Scotland’s marine environment is healthy, wildlife-rich, valued and enjoyed by current and future generations”. We have had conversations with a wide range of organisations and our own people about the type of organisation we will be in the future. This has led to us agreeing a set of organisational values that will underpin our overall approach for “Inspiring and educating people about the Scottish marine environment, motivating people
to care for it and supporting conservation”. Our organisational values – Passionate, Inspiring, Innovative, Collaborative, Informed, and Trustworthy - will define the way we will engage with partners, visitors and each other. We have settled on three programmes of work. Conservation - We will continue efforts to build a compelling case for the protection and restoration of our marine environments and to showcase marine conservation best practice. This will see us developing further as a hub for projects that improve our understanding of Scotland’s marine environment; especially Scotland’s internationally important breeding seabird populations. Working with partners we will support practical conservation activities, such as control of invasive species impacting on coastal habitats and wildlife and building on the expertise we have developed through initiatives such as SOS Puffin. Education – We will build on our highly regarded educational programmes offering indoor learning opportunities (through our refurbished classroom, Discovery Experience and school workshops) and outdoor learning opportunities that are topical and aligned with the Curriculum for
