The project

Hiraeth Yn Y Môr (HYYM) is a community-led project working in North-East Wales to connect local people with the ocean on their doorstep

About the project

Between April 2023 and March 2025, we'll be working closely with the coastal communities of Prestatyn, Rhyl, Kinmel Bay and Towyn to grow ocean literacy, improve the sustainable management of the local marine heritage, and promote the health and wellbeing benefits of connecting with our ocean.

A community-led approach

Our project will be led by the first ever One Ocean Forum, a group of diverse voices tasked with ensuring Hiraeth Yn Y Môr meets the needs of the local community and environment.

Read our latest news to find out what we've been up to and see our get involved page to sign up to our activities.

Why does it matter?

Research has shown that time by the coast and sea brings real benefits for our health and wellbeing, and that people who connect their wellbeing with the coast and sea are more likely to want to look after it.

Caring and connecting with the ocean is important for many reasons:

The HYYM project area sits within the Liverpool Bay Special Protection Area: Prestatyn, Rhyl, Kinmel Bay and Towyn sit within Liverpool Bay SPA, an area that has been designated for red throated divers, common scoters and waterbird assemblage.
We need the ocean to survive: The ocean produces around 50% of the Earth’s oxygen.
The ocean supports our economy: The coastal and marine environment is an great natural asset, contributing £6.8 billion to the economy of Wales and supporting more than 92,000 jobs.

60

%

of Wales' population of live and work near the coast

16

km

of coastline from Prestatyn to Kinmel Bay

8/10

people in Wales report that visiting the sea is good for their mental and physical health

Credit: Aled Llywelyn
Credit: Andrew Chrisholm via Shutterstock
Credit: David King Photography via Shutterstock
Credit: John Archer-Thompson

Meet the team

The One Ocean Forum, a group of diverse community members, will lead the project by advising the core project team.

The core project team is made up of Ffion, our HYYM Project Lead, and two HYYM Project Assistants, Millie and Ciara.

The HYYM team is also supported by staff from across the Marine Conservation Society.

The diagram below shows how different parts of the project team fit together.

Before the HYYM Project, I’d had the pleasure of meeting many of Kinmel Bay, Rhyl and Prestatyn’s community members through previous events in my role as Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager for North Wales. Through those conversations, I began to understand the breadth of environmental, social and economic challenges impacting the local area.

Environmentally, there’s a lot going on in this section of the North Wales coastline. We have the River Clwyd catchment, which enters the sea via Rhyl Harbour. There are an array of offshore renewable energy wind farms, visible from the shore. Locally, we have an ecological treasure in Horton’s Nose Nature Reserve. At a larger scale, we have Liverpool Bay Special Protection Area, a marine protected area of international importance, that stretches across our entire project area. Historically, this coastline would have had a thriving sand dune ecosystem. Today, much of the sand dunes have disappeared, now replaced by hard engineered flood defences. We’re experiencing rapid change across this coastline, so ensuring we protect and celebrate our special marine environment is really important.

Socially and economically, communities are facing a variety of different challenges. According to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, pockets of Prestatyn, Rhyl, Kinmel Bay and Towyn fall within the top 10% of most deprived communities in Wales (you can find out more about the Index here). I wanted to co-design and co-develop a project with local people that would help tackle, some of the challenges experienced locally – hence the focus on improving community health and well-being in our work.

Ocean literacy is a valuable mechanism in supporting people to connect with their local environment. By getting involved in our Ocean Connection Programme, local people will be inspired to take care of their coast and sea and reap the health and well-being benefits of spending time in nature.

To me, success would be communities being more knowledgeable on the ocean, skilled in taking positive action and both confident and motivated to engage with decision-making processes that impact their local area and marine environment. If we can support people to get out there and experience their local coast and sea and build a lasting relationship with it, I hope in turn that will result in better protection of the marine environment and improved individual health and well-being, too.

If we can support people to get out there and experience their local coast and sea and build a lasting relationship with it, I hope in turn that will result in better protection of the marine environment and improved individual health and wellbeing, too.
Ffion Mitchell, HYYM Project Lead

Ciara, HYYM Project Assistant

(February 2024-February 2025)

Ciara is the current Project Assistant supporting Ffion in the delivery phase of the Hiraeth Yn Y Môr project.

Engaging with community members, working with the One Ocean Forum and supporting on the development and delivery of HYYM events and resources is at the forefront of Ciara’s role.

Here, she explains what drew her to this role and what she brings to the project.

Ciara Taylor with seagrass in HYYM project area

Credit: Ciara Taylor

I was drawn to the project because of the focus on people. I am a strong believer that environmental justice and social justice are inextricably linked, meaning to make any progress on environmental issues, we must include people and communities.
Ciara Taylor, HYYM Project Assistant

Having grown up in North Wales and spent the last four years living in South Wales, I am passionate about the Welsh coastline and ensuring we are working hard to educate communities on protecting it.
Millie Main, HYYM Project Assistant

One Ocean Forum

Our members

We have a diverse range of members with different backgrounds, including those who have never previously been involved in marine conservation, and members who have worked in or studied marine conservation. Our youngest member is 11, and our oldest is nearly 80!

The Forum is a place for these community members to come together and share their opinions to guide the direction of the project, and to connect with each other.

The story so far

Our Forum led the direction of the Ocean Connection Programme, devising the Programme’s structure and suggesting ideas for the activities we could deliver. We're excited to be turning these ideas into reality by delivering Forum-inspired activities throughout the project! To find out more about these free and accessible activities and sign up to take part, click here.

The Forum also co-designed our Ocean Literacy leaflet with us, which is a resource introducing the HYYM project, ocean literacy principles, and local activities people can do. The co-design process started when we asked the Forum what they would want to see from a project leaflet. They suggested a range of ideas that we took to our design team. We took their draft leaflet back to the Forum who provided lots of feedback, which was used to produce the final resource.

You can now download and read the final version here.

Credit: Mark McNulty

Latest news

Read our latest updates and find out what we've been up to in the local area.

29 May 2024

Spotted! A curled octopus in Menai Bridge

Not only did HYYM Project Assistant, Ciara, spot a curled octopus whilst rockpooling on the shoreline by Menai Bridge, Anglesey, but they also managed to capture it changing colour!

"We saw some tentacles sticking out from under a rock and waited patiently. Eventually it came out and started crawling back towards the sea - we couldn't believe it! It was an amazing reminder of the beautiful wildlife in North Wales and why we need to protect it."

The octopus made its way over to the sea, where it arrived safely.

Check out the video on Facebook!