Concerned members of the public reported this green #Turtle which was stuck in a rock pool. Our team helped to safely guide her out of the pool and into the sea to recuperate #community #Conservation #smallislandBIGVISION

We ended our first week on #Ascension with a visit to meet the children at Two Boats School and began trialing different methodologies for #marineplastic shoreline monitoring along the local beaches. Ascension Island MPA ZSL @Darwin_Defra John Ellerman Foundation

A successful start to week two! A beach clean at Grubby beach, more shoreline monitoring and meeting more friendly faces around the island. #Ascension #SmallislandBigvision #OceanPlastic ZSL Ascension Conservation Ascension Island MPA

Whilst on #Ascension, alongside Ascension Conservation, we've been using the MarineDebrisTracker app and #photoquadrat surveys to identify areas where plastic pollution is highest along the Ascension coastline. We're just getting started but have already logged nearly 1,000 items!

A successful day surveying some of the south coast of Ascension Island for marine debris. Amongst the items found were many #plastic bottles of distant origin. #SmallislandBigvision #oceanplastic Ascension Island MPA ZSLMarine Fiona Llewellyn Surshti Patel (she/her) Alice Chamberlain

We encountered a #BrownBooby that had its lower bill #entangled in #plastic during a visit to the Letterbox peninsula today. We plan to investigate the impact of #marinedebris on this species and others as part of the plastic project on Ascension. ZSLMarine Ascension Conservation

This morning the latest Blue Belt RRS Discovery (#DY159) survey departs on its 9000-mile voyage to Ascension Island and St Helena 🚢 Read all about the expedition in our new blog – from the survey’s scientific objectives to the challenges of #COVID19 bit.ly/3gLEal5

With only 10-days to conduct our surveys, we've focused our interest on the Southeast abyssal plain, Grattan Seamount, Young Seamount and hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. 📸:AIG

Our first surveys have highlighted the diverse origins of #plasticpollution arriving on Ascension.

We recorded 500+ plastic bottles along the South Coast of #Ascension. After collecting the bottles we extracted information around brands & production dates. None of the brands recorded are sold on Ascension, and the oldest plastic bottle dated back to 2014. Ascension Conservation

The team are now back in the UK after a successful trip working with Ascension Conservation in #Ascension. A *huge* thanks to everyone who gave up their time to speak and meet with us. Over the next few weeks will be compiling and sharing everything we have learnt - stay tuned 🌊

Very excited to be onboard RRS Discovery and to be underway toward Young sea mount to start surveys.

Arrived at Young #seamount. Our first deployment was a scavanger trap targeting #amphipods followed by a #CTD drop.

Our Ascension Conservation team in their survival suits during their personal survival at sea training on National Oceanography Centre RRS Discovery. We have started our Blue Belt Programme science programme at Young Seamount. This will include CTD, pelagic trawl, BRUV and deep water camera deployments

Article published today about some of the origins of #plastic found during surveys conducted whilst ZSL partners visited #Ascension. bbc.co.uk/news/science-e…

Great start to the morning on RRS Discovery #DY159. Having seen the retrieval of an RMT with some stunning samples collected from the deep as well as the deployment of #BRUVs and a #CTD to sample the water column around Young #seamount.

Sorting through last night's mid water trawl taken between 400-600 metres at Young Seamount. Here are some of the crustaceans and atolla jellyfish we found #DY159 #smallislandBIGVISION 📸:Tobias Capel

One of our last deployments at #Grattan #seamount was two Bongo nets to collect #zooplankton samples. Beautiful aray of species collected including some which flashed with electric blue #bioluminescence

Our plastics coordinator has been taking samples from sediment collected at 3000m in the Ascension Island MPA to test for micro and macro plastics #DY159

Today marked the start of our study investigating the prevalence and composition of #plastic #pollution in #brownbooby nests. Already seeing nests containing plastic netting, rope and other fibres. Laura Shearer Ascension Island MPA Ascension Conservation ZSLMarine #smallislandBIGVISION