EastME Organisation

In 2024, the East Marine Ecosystems (EastME) project commenced to report on the annual changes in the natural marine systems from Flamborough Head to the south Suffolk border and the regions management. The eleven thematic topics of EastME include oceanography, plankton, the seabed and seashore, fish, seabirds and marine mammals – see poster here. The management themes include planning, protected areas, fisheries, water quality and plastic pollution.

The first EastME Conference was held in May 2024 and saw multiple presenters from the East region report on the local marine environment. EastME will run on an annual cycle to report change and the state of East marine ecosystems in a timely way to influence research, management and recovery.

The idea for the EastME Project arose from an initial scoping project funded via Defra’s mNCEA – Land Sea interface programme in May 2023. The EAST marine region was selected  as a pilot because it is the region most unlike the south-west where a regional conference already exists. There is also an extensive programme of marine planning currently underway in the east region of England.

Social Capital: Building Relationships and Communities

In essence East Marine Ecosystems will be a programme of communication and reporting observations and findings from a wide range of current work and projects that apply to the East marine and coastal region.