Streaming channel picks up Orkney marine film

The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s newly released film, Oceans of Value, which shares local people’s emotional connections with Orkney’s marine environment, has been picked-up by global not-for-profit streaming channel.

The streaming channel Ecoflix, which launched in 2021, sees 100 per cent of subscriber’s fees go directly towards NGOs supporting ongoing wildlife and conservation efforts.

Oceans of Value focuses on the waters surrounding Orkney, featuring interviews carried out with 26 local people to unearth their values and the relationship they have with the sea.

It also uncovers their future hopes and expectations of how the local marine environment might help shape the future of the island.

It is hoped that the film will help to inform Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Living Seas work focusing on better understanding and improving both marine planning and community engagement.

For Scottish Wildlife Trust’s stakeholder engagement officer, Rebecca Crawford, the film takes an “innovative approach” by hearing first-hand how Orkney’s population perceives and values the local marine environment.

“Such in-depth and personal insights are often difficult to capture but are also really vital in helping to inform marine environment policy,” she said.

“To think that our film is now being watched not just beyond the borders of Scotland but streamed across the world is very exciting to showcase how communities can contribute to marine planning.”