The Scottish Wildlife Trust launched the Oceans of Value film on the 11^th January 2023, which is now available on YouTube and Ecoflix.

Oceans of Value captures interviews with 26 local people in Orkney to unearth their values and relationship with the sea, how they have seen the marine environment change and how they would like to see it managed in the future.

Capturing the range of values that are placed on the marine environment can be challenging. The Trust’s Oceans of Value project compares two different approaches to identifying key values associated with the marine environment in Orkney: a natural capital approach and the Community Voice Method. The natural capital report was published in 2022 and the film was released on 11 January with a report to follow later in 2023.

Stakeholder engagement officer, Rebecca Crawford, said: “Our project in Orkney looking into the facts, figures and emotive connections to the sea will help us better understand how the Trust can support the Orkney marine environment and its communities, as well as the wider Scottish marine environment, now and for years to come.”. A range of stakeholders were interviewed to capture the different values members of Orkney’s community place on the marine environment using the community voice method. Information in this report can be used for regional marine planning purposes.

Gordon Buchanan, presenter and Scottish Wildlife Trust ambassador said, “The ocean has sounds and the ocean has stories but in this emotive film the ocean’s resonating voice comes from the people whose world view is shaped by their love and passion for the world above and below the waves”.

The film can be viewed on YouTube here.

Find out more about the Oceans of Value project here.