Mourant partners with Blue Marine in Jersey's first snorkel trail
Jersey’s shallow marine habitats have beauty and diversity hidden just beneath the waves and now a new snorkel trail, supported by Mourant in a two year partnership with Blue Marine Foundation, offers Jersey residents and tourists the opportunity to explore this valuable marine environment.
Snorkel Portelet is the first of a network of snorkel trails planned for the Island and is made up of three components, the trail itself, an education programme and a citizen science portal.
Snorkel Portelet Trail
The self-guided trail showcases rocky reefs, kelp, sandy and a small seagrass bed. These habitats support a range of marine life with ballan and cuckoo wrasse, spider crabs and snakelocks anemones among the species for snorkelers to see.
The trail sits within recently designated Portelet Bay No-Take-Zone (NTZ) – the first to be created in Jersey. The new designation means no fishing or other extractive activities can occur within the zone.
Discover more
Watch this short three minute video to learn more about Snorkel Portelet.
Snorkel Portelet Schools Programme
Blue Marine is working with Bouley Bay Dive Centre to deliver an educational outreach programme across the summer, that will provide underwater experiences to more than 180 children.
Targeted at Jersey's primary schools, the programme is offering six sessions that include classroom workshops, a pool session and guided snorkel tour at Portelet Bay. Going beneath the surface to physically experience the marine world brings to life what most people will have only seen on a screen.
Creating lasting memories of the natural world the programme hopes to foster a connection between Jersey’s younger generation and the seas around them.
Snorkel Portelet Citizen Science
Snorkel Portelet will also enable snorkelers to become citizen scientists via a new portal, led by the Société Jersiaise. Snorkelers will be able to record the marine life they see and this in turn will help the partnership track changes in biodiversity in response to climate change.
The protection of the world's ocean is of particular importance to us, not only because it is our planet's life support system, but also because a number of our jurisdictions are surrounded by the sea ocean that enriches our environment, our wellbeing and our local communities. We're committed to supporting the work of organisations dedicated to marine conservation and proud to support Snorkel Portelet in helping our community connect with the island's incredible marine environment and inspire the next generation of ocean stewards.
About Blue Marine Foundation
Known as Blue Marine, this UK registered charity was set up in 2010 by some of the team behind the award-winning documentary film ‘The End of the Line’. Blue Marine aims to restore the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems. Blue Marine is dedicated to creating marine reserves, restoring vital habitats and establishing models of sustainable fishing.
Blue Marine's mission is to see 30 per cent of the world’s ocean under effective protection by 2030.
To dive a little deeper, why not explore how maintaining ocean health is essential for people and our plant by visiting The Sea We Breathe, Blue Marine's interactive web experience narrated by Stephen Fry.
Our Ocean Pledge
Protecting the world's ocean is important to us and to this end, in partnership with our global employee-led Environment & Sustainability Network, we have developed the Mourant Ocean Pledge.
