A group of young adults, successfully recruited as the UK’s first Sea Rangers, will carry out their first assignment in the Celtic Sea. The Sea Ranger Service offers young people a paid position on a sailing work boat, working to protect the environment whilst gaining invaluable work experience.
Working in partnership with The Crown Estate, the eight young adults, who were selected following an intense bootcamp run by Royal Navy veterans, will carry out wildlife monitoring as part of a multi-year surveying programme in support of floating offshore wind developments.
The Crown Estate has set out ambitious plans for a new generation of floating windfarms in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of South Wales and South West England. With the potential to produce enough renewable energy for more than 4 million homes, it is set to be one of the biggest schemes of its kind in the world.
In order to help de-risk the opportunity for developers and accelerate the deployment of the new wind farms, they are conducting a multi-million pounds programme of surveys to better understand the physical and environmental properties of the seabed around the areas where the new windfarms will be located.
Working in partnership with The Crown Estate to supplement these surveys, the Sea Ranger Service will be working out at sea to monitor sea birds and other marine animals in the Celtic Sea. They will receive training from The Crown Estate and its specialist contractors, helping them learn best practice for observation, monitoring, recording and data processing.
Two of the new recruits, who grew up in Port Talbot, are excited to set sail. Selina Rees, one of the selected Sea Rangers who joined the programme to work on protecting the ocean environment, said: “This is such an amazing opportunity. I have not seen jobs like this before, where I get a full salary for sailing out to sea and protecting our oceans. I can’t wait.”
The Sea Ranger Service first launched in 2016 in the Netherlands to support the government with the management and restoration of oceans while offering young people, particularly those in coastal regions, a unique start to their careers. Since its launch, the organisation has had over 170 young people participating in its work in the Netherlands and France.
Everything we do at The Crown Estate is about laying the foundations for a brighter future for future generations, whether that’s our work to catalyse the UK’s transition away from fossil fuels, creating thriving communities or supporting nature recovery. It is these future generations that will truly reap the rewards from the growth of offshore wind.
We know how vital it is to build new skills and inspire more young people into green careers, and we look forward to be working with the next generation of the maritime workforce who share our passion for protecting and enhancing the marine environment.
Rebecca Williams, Director for Wales at The Crown Estate,
The Sea Ranger Service aims to restore 1 million hectares of ocean biodiversity by 2040, whilst training 20,000 young people towards a maritime career.