0:00:27 > 0:00:29The scuba divers with Seasearch
0:00:29 > 0:00:31study marine life in their spare time.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Their surveys play a vital part in wildlife conservation,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38as Claire Goodwin explains.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40When people come into the project,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42a lot of the time they don't have much idea
0:00:42 > 0:00:44about marine life when they're diving.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48They might dive wrecks and just be looking at the wreck
0:00:48 > 0:00:50rather than looking at what's actually on it.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52So by joining in with Seasearch,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54they start observing what's underwater.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58There's such a vast area of coastline and much of it is still unsurveyed.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01We just don't know what's down there.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02Up here, it's easy to say,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06"There's withe there" or "There's some grassland there".
0:01:06 > 0:01:09But underwater it's more difficult to understand what there is there.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Claire and the volunteers are passionate
0:01:14 > 0:01:17about protecting our seas into the future.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Well, as well as generally conserving the biodiversity
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and making sure we don't make a whole suite of species extinct,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27some of these animals can actually be useful to us.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29There are some sponges which are being used
0:01:29 > 0:01:31to create cancer-curing drugs.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33So if we do know what's down there,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36it can actually act as a resource for us.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41I'm reminded of one of Trevor Norton's books,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Underwater To Get Out Of The Rain,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45as we leave Ardglass Harbour.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52The mood on board is bright, despite the weather.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00This isn't everyone's idea of fun,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04battered by rough seas on a dirty day at the height of summer.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07But the Seasearch volunteers live for this.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I like the Irish Sea.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14I like the way that the Irish ecosystem is very varied
0:02:14 > 0:02:17and that you have lots of different creatures
0:02:17 > 0:02:20that have very specialised ways of surviving.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24I took up with Seasearch about a year ago.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I used to dive a lot of wrecks, and this has given me a lot of interest
0:02:27 > 0:02:29in the marine habitat around wrecks.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33I don't concentrate on the wreck, I look at the habitat on the wreck
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and how the marine life that's evolved around that.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38I like to see what's underwater.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I like to learn new stuff.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43I like to know what I actually see.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45So, the more you know, you can enjoy more,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47because you get more observative.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51We'll survey a site that hasn't been studied for decades,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54so who knows what we'll find!
0:03:06 > 0:03:11In the gloom, we find the first signs of life in a sea of mud.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17A common sea urchin is easily spotted.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Claire records it and all the other animals we find.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24The information on her slate
0:03:24 > 0:03:26will add to a huge database of the UK coast
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that Seasearch is building up.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38We're exploring a rocky reef.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The boulders were dropped here by a glacier thousands of years ago.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48A sponge grows tall in the silt to avoid being buried,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50making a home for others to settle in.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58A sun starfish brightens the darkness.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02They have up to 14 arms and grow as big as a dinner plate,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06eating the other reef dwellers, including starfish.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18A mud anemone is an elegant creature, feasting on the tide
0:04:18 > 0:04:23with graceful tentacles that are laced with deadly stinging cells.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34It looks like a sea slug but is in fact
0:04:34 > 0:04:36a candy-striped flatworm.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51A crab wears a living crown of barnacles.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55The life down here is small, delicately balanced
0:04:55 > 0:04:57and perfectly adapted for survival.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Swaying like a tree in the breeze,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17a plumose anemone shares a rock with a pulsing colony of barnacles.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Scallops are strange creatures,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27sporting a soft beard of tentacles and about 100 beady little eyes.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35It's easy to see why Claire and the Seasearch volunteers care so much
0:05:35 > 0:05:38about protecting this undersea world.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd