UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR THE SEAHORSE TRUST

Seahorses, those enigmatic stunning little ‘horses of the sea’, are probably one of the most beguiling fish a marine keeper can have in their tank. They are a fish of myth and legend, of beauty and tragedy and probably one of the hardest marine fish to keep and breed successfully.

Often we see a very sad looking Seahorse in a fish shop that has been through the mill in its long and traumatic journey to that tank. Aquarists are drawn to this beautiful fish like moths to a light and that impulse buy can lead them down a road of heart break and trauma, awe and wonder, frustration and headache as they struggle to find accurate, helpful information on how to keep them as well as how to breed them.

The Seahorse Trust set up by its founder Neil Garrick-Maidment has always been there to help aquarists who are in trouble with Seahorses. Unlike other organisations, The Seahorse Trust has always believed in serious aquarists keeping Seahorses privately, it recognises the fact that they have a major contribution to make towards conservation and research, although they do try to discourage casual aquarists from keeping them.

Over Neil’s 29 years of experience he has successfully bred 20 species of Seahorse to multiple generations (over 30,000 Kynsna Seahorses alone), 6 of which are world firsts including the British Isles own 2 native species. He has witnessed ups and downs in Seahorse keeping and he is now a firm advocate of only keeping captive bred Seahorses to stop the strain on the wild populations. He believes in sharing knowledge amongst other aquarists and endeavours to reply to any request for help that he may get, although occasionally one or two get through the net.

A few years ago Neil set up a shrimp farm to fund all the work of the Trust out of his own pocket, to try and reduce the boom and bust situation all charities find themselves in as funds ebb and flow. It worked well and allowed the Trust to do an immense amount of work helping private aquarists, public aquariums around the world and other research organisations. This also benefited its own Seahorse research in the waters of the British Isles through its British Seahorse Survey (www.britishseahorsesurvey.org ) and its captive breeding work. They have become the foremost charity in support of Seahorses in the world and have gained a worldwide reputation for their work, research and sharing of knowledge.

All this however will be coming to an end very soon without urgent help. The Seahorse Trust like many charities in the UK is totally reliant on grants and donations from others to keep it going. Unfortunately with the closing of the shrimp farm The Seahorse Trust faces closing its doors forever unless it can find donations and sponsorship very quickly to support this much needed work. They are frantically writing applications and applying for funding from grant-giving bodies, companies and private individuals, but in this economic climate there are so many worth while organisations going through the same process and the pot of money is getting increasingly smaller by the day.

The Seahorse Trust is often responsible for Seahorse stories reaching the media. Over the years this has resulted in the showing of stunning images on Autumn Watch and articles in magazines and journals. All of this is done free of charge to spread the knowledge and beauty of Seahorses worldwide, and to get the public as interested and fascinated by Seahorses as they are.

Those of you who have received free advice from the Trust, no matter what time of day or night (often late into the night when a Seahorse is in trouble), will appreciate the continuation of this service.

They need your help now to keep going and to be able to continue the work they are doing, please dig deep into your pockets and send a donation, better still set up a standing order to them each month, just a few pounds will help. Remember that if you are a standard UK tax payer to gift aid it, they will send you a gift aid form.

Please note the Trust does not have a formal membership scheme at the moment as they want to put every penny into the work they do.

Visit their websites www.theseahorsetrust.co.uk or www.britishseahorsesurvey.org and look up their details, if you like and want to support their work make a donation, direct to their bank (details on the websites) or by cheque to the Trust office.

With your help they can and will make a difference to natures' most enigmatic fish and as their motto says they are “Working in partnership with nature”.

                                       Help them to keep doing this for future generations.