Executive Committee
Kevin McIlwee MSc– Chairman
Gareth Jeffreys – Vice Chairman
Beverley Murtaugh-McIlwee – Secretary
Christopher Peach – Treasurer
Non-Executive Committee
Dr Sean Dettman JICAS Director
Professor Jamie Stevens Biosciences Exeter University
George Bryan-Orr
Since humble beginnings in 2011 we have created a database of hundreds of species and produced over 1000 survey reports. We have won numerous awards and play a key part in the creation of marine protected areas within our territorial waters. Since 2019 and 2020 with a short intermission during COVID we have ran held hugely successful Marine Mission events bringing our schools and community together to celebrate our World Wetlands and Ocean. in 2025 we won the Insurance Corporation Award for our STEM project and shared the Britain in Bloom Gold coastal community award. We were also a finalist in the AJC small charity awards.
Meet the Chairman
Hi, I am the founder and Chairman of Jersey Marine Conservation. Recognising what an amazing underwater world we have around Jersey and wanting to protect it, I founded the organisation originally known as Jersey Seasearch. From those beginnings, we now try to support those proactively wanting to be involved in Marine Conservation.
I spend my retired life organising ways to help protect Jersey’s marine species and where they live. Our Island waters may appear idyllic but the truth lies beneath the blue shimmering surface where areas once rich in species are under ever increasing threat from over fishing, various types of pollution and over use by our boating community in some areas.
I have a great team of divers, scientists, conservationists and environmentalists who proactively devote their time to protecting creatures and algae in our territorial waters.
‘In the isolation of the COVID years my wife and I realised how the marine environment can support our well-being. I see as my ongoing personal mission the development of resources that help people enjoy, understand and participate in challenges that help safeguard our ocean’.
A big thankyou to all who have supported us in any way.
What I do
- My time is devoted between organising our projects, fund raising and getting volunteers. This is the hardest and most challenging part of my life but the rewards have been more than worth the effort.
- I meet some amazing people and feel humbled in their presence.
- Live for the challenges, my wife is a saint, always supportive and inspirational!
- I see our islands young population as the ambassadors of our future.
- Educating our community is a key factor in securing the success of our organisation’s aims and we are grateful to the Association of Jersey Charities, The Jersey Community Foundation, Ports of Jersey, Aztec Group, Fiduchi, the Roy Overland Trust and other organisations for making the Marine Watch initiative possible.
- I think we need to do more to bring together those who can and do make a difference. Our annual Events: Marine Mission – Wetlands and Marine Mission – Ocean achieve just that. We are very proud of our hard-earned success. Charlie McArdle from the BBC said ‘JMC is a small charity boxing well above our weight’ . I get a buzz from seeing organisations collectively engaging with our island community and want people to see how caring we can all be despite the dog-eat-dog world we seem to live in.
- I am a great believer in well-being and see what we do as rewarding and meaningful.
- My passions are diving, photography and safeguarding our Marine Environment.
