An Operator’s View

Josh Gilchrist, Managing Director of Cumbrae Voyages, followed Wild Scotland’s presentation and explains here how his company exploits the Clyde in a sustainable way to bring people closer to the Clyde’s wildlife.

Please click here for the full presentation or read on for a summary of the talk.

Cumbrae Voyages run wildlife and adventure boat trips using four ten metre Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs). Customers are supplied with everything that they might require including waterproofs, lifejackets etc. making the experience easier and, more importantly, safe.

Cumbrae Voyages is based at Largs in the Lower Clyde and operate from Largs seafront, Largs Yacht Haven and Millport Pier. We offer a range of trips for the general public and tourists. These range from half hour trips to two and a half hour trips. We also offer marine based corporate entertainment events which range from half day options to two day events incorporating a variety of marine and land based events. There has also been a lot of interest from stag and hen groups.

Why The Clyde?

Our base at Largs, which has always been famous for its boat trips, was the obvious choice. It provides relatively sheltered waters for the majority of the time and is only 40 minutes drive from Glasgow and 1 hour by sea. Largs is surrounded by islands, giving numerous places to stop off and drop off and an abundance of wildlife. The area is also steeped in history and ruins, for example on Wee Cumbrae and we are the first operator to give visitors access to the island in 40 years.

© Cumbrae Voyages

Our theory

In order to get people on to the Clyde and enjoying themselves we feel that the several factors are important. Our customers must feel safe from start to finish. Trips must be regularly available and we are open every day except for Christmas.

We offer informative, educational and exciting trips which are tailored to suit the needs of the group that we have onboard. This can range from underprivileged children’s groups to corporate groups looking for something special from their experience. We feel that the experience must be memorable and enjoyable. Sounds simple but you can’t please all the people all the time.

We have a huge number of children (and many adults) who live relatively locally and have never been on the Clyde or a boat!

The Clyde’s Wildlife

There is a lot of wildlife in the area, sometimes it is just difficult to find. However, common and grey Seals can be found in abundance. Porpoises and a resident population of around 50 common dolphins are also around. We have seen minke and pilot whales this year, otters, puffins, gannets and other sea birds too. We have been involved in the University Marine Biological Station on Millport’s basking shark study, reporting any sightings and also helping with tagging the sharks.

Sustainable Use

The environment and its sustainable use is clearly very important to us. We enjoy the beauty that the area has to offer but also appreciate that this must be sustained or indeed improved in order to keep the wildlife and therefore us in business.

There is always a fine line between achieving a sustainable income and paying attention to our client and environment demands. We do however do our best and take our responsibilities seriously.

We consider our influences on the environment in terms of emissions, wake, impact and noise. We are a carbon neutral company whereby any carbon emissions produced by the vessels’ engines (which have the lowest emissions available) is offset by investment into sustainable green forests to absorb such emissions. On a busy day we consume many litres of fuel between our vessels and we strongly believe that this must be environmentally accountable.

Wake is not really an issue for us in the majority of the areas that we operate in. Our minimum wake is at high speed. Although we have multiple sailings on busy days with many trips continually visiting the same area we do always approach at slow speed and keep a good distance in order to keep our impact to a minimum which has gained us acceditation as a WISE (accredited wildlife safe) approved operator. Finally we also keep noise to a minimum. We have introduced computer-controlled engines with ultra low emissions that are also ultra quiet. All vessels run two engines simultaneously and to reduce underwater acoustic simple harmonics we ensure that they run at slightly separate speeds.

During 2005 we plan to open up for inspection from various Environmental Conservation agencies. We are actively seeking approval and accreditation from these agencies. Finally, all office paper and plastic waste is processed for re-cycling.

We ensure that all our personnel have a strong local bias in that they are interested in protecting our maritime natural heritage. Most of us are graduates in marine disciplines or ex fishermen and have strong maritime links. We contribute to awareness of what wildlife is where by recording, logging and reporting all wildlife sightings.

Sustainable use is not just about protecting the environment. We must also ensure our business is economically sustainable and continue to diversify, expand our pick up and drop off points and provide more access to more remote areas, whilst still minimising our impact on the Clyde’s environment and wildlife.

We are always here to listen to advice so if you think you could further our green intentions then please feel free to contact us. And of course contact us if you’d like to join us for a trip.

For further information contact Josh Gilchrist, Cumbrae Voyages, telephone 0845 257 0404 or visit www.cumbraevoyages.co.uk or www.totalyachting.co.uk