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We very much enjoyed working with Barley Communications thanks to their PR skills, professionalism and responsiveness.
Melissa Moore
Head of Policy – UK, Oceana
Organisation type
Charity/third sector
Sector
Environment and sustainability
Service
Oceana appointed Barley to provide environmental campaign consultancy to support its ambition to secure a sustainable future for UK fisheries. As the UK left the EU, Oceana sought to influence government decision-making on the UK Fisheries Act and the setting of total allowable catch limits in UK waters. Our task was to strengthen Oceana’s voice on conservation campaign priorities and raise its UK profile at a pivotal moment for marine policy.
With decisions on overfishing shaped by three key developments — the UK Fisheries Bill, the UK-EU Fisheries Agreement and the 2021 total allowable catch (TAC) negotiations — we designed a targeted strategy to influence each stage.
For the Fisheries Bill, we drafted a timely letter to the editor for the Daily Telegraph and issued a press release as the Bill reached Parliament, ensuring Oceana’s position was clearly and credibly communicated.
Ahead of the UK-EU Fisheries Agreement, we secured an opinion piece by Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless for Indy100 Conversations and prepared two outcome-based press releases to move quickly once the vote concluded.When national lockdown restrictions prevented Oceana’s planned physical activation during TAC negotiations, we pivoted fast. We used the release of Oceana’s first-of-its-kind UK fisheries audit to highlight the scale and impact of overfishing. This was supported by tailored social content and short video clips to extend reach across relevant audiences.
Coverage of the Fisheries Audit was extensive, with a Guardian article trending in the number one news spot on Apple News on launch day. Prominent environmental voices — including Chris Packham, George Monbiot and Greenpeace — amplified the findings across social media, helping drive wider public attention to the issue of overfishing.The Indy100 opinion piece by Andy Sharpless gained further traction, shared multiple times by The Independent (3.5m followers) over several months. Together, these moments strengthened Oceana’s influence on UK marine policy and significantly elevated its national profile.
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We very much enjoyed working with Barley Communications thanks to their PR skills, professionalism and responsiveness.
Melissa Moore
Head of Policy – UK, Oceana
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