The waters off the Berwickshire coast have long been considered special by marine biologists as they contain a fantastic abundance and diversity of marine life. Add to this clear waters and spectacular underwater scenery and it is not surprising that divers have been coming to the area for decades.

In the early days numbers were low, but word soon spread and by the 1970s there were concerns that increasing human activity might start to have an adverse effect on the wildlife. Initially divers banned themselves from taking a crab or lobster “for the pot” from around St Abbs and the Barefoot Marine Reserve was set up at Eyemouth by a local landowner. Then in 1984 local fishermen, divers and conservationists got together and decided to create St Abbs & Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve (VMR). This was the first reserve of its kind in the UK and, to this day, remains the only one in Scotland.

The VMR aims to balance the needs of the area’s marine life with the needs of recreation & traditional creel fishing. Protection of the marine life relies on educating people who use the area, promoting responsible behaviour and asking them to stick to a voluntary Code of Conduct.

16th July 2008
All in the name of photography
A local diver was incensed yesterday when he witnessed two divers cutting up sea urchins, and feeding them ballen wrasse in order to get the fish to hang around long enough to get some good photos. I am pleased to say that the local made it quite clear to the photographers that this was not acceptible behaviour in the Marine Reserve.

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15th July 2008
International Interest in Marine Reserve Event
There has been a huge response to the press release I sent out yesterday about a forthcoming event I will be running in conjunction with the Eyemouth Herring Queen Committee - Britain's first ever edible boat race! So far I have been contacted from Canada, France and the West Indies not to mention various British contacts.

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12th July 2008
Hey Big Spender!
We had an interesting coin in our donations box at St Abbs Harbour today - a half pence piece! When I showed it to the seasonal rangers, neither of them had ever seen one before which was not really that surprising as they went out of circulation in 1984! I am now intrigued as to who has had this little gem hiding in their purse or pocket for 24 years! Not that I am complaining, of course, as every little helps!

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