A Bermudian with a passion for the water dedicates her pastime of beachcombing to spreading the cause of environmental conservation.

Fae Sapsford believes that ocean education and exploring the outdoors starts with getting your hands wet.

The East End resident said: “The first step to protecting something is to care and know about it, and it’s important to instil that knowledge at a young age.

“I just want more people to go out and enjoy Bermuda’s marine environment.”

Ms Sapsford runs an ocean education account on Instagram, named Sargasso Girl.

She explained: “It’s punchy — I wanted a name that encapsulates Bermuda but which also talks about the high-seas connection we have.

“I want to increase awareness of Bermuda’s marine ecosystems so that people are motivated to protect these spaces that they love and care about.”

For years, Ms Sapsford would comb the beaches at Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve for Sargassum seaweed, which teems with an unusual cast of endemic organisms.

Five years ago, the hobby built into increasing posts on her social-media account.

“If you look through fresh Sargassum, you can find lots of unique animals that are native to open ocean, high-seas environments,” she said.

“I would take pictures of them, and it is so amazing because for Bermuda we have the high seas on our doorstep.”

She was influenced by her stepsister and other family members keen to explore ecosystems around the island.

Ms Sapsford was raised in Warwick and Smith’s and before she went on to study at university, she spent much of her time exploring the environment in St George’s.

She said: “I always loved the ocean and I did a lot of environmental conservation work experience and volunteering.”

Ms Sapsford has volunteered at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo and participated in the Bermuda Turtle Project.

She interned at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and started an environmental blog when she was younger.

“The Instagram account is kind of an evolution of the blog,” she said.

She uses the Instagram account to document her finds, also logging on to the iNaturalist website to upload her observations.

“I recommend it to everyone because it’s a citizen science platform — you can contribute to strengthening our understanding of Bermuda’s environments and species, even if you are not into it,” she said.

“If you are into researching bugs or birds, you can take a picture and upload it.

“It will record the co-ordinates and the date and time and then scientists can use that data in their projects.”

Ms Sapsford noted: “Bermuda as a region is very underrepresented in that sort of thing, so it is very important for more of us to get involved.”

In addition to organisms, Ms Sapsford has encountered “a lot of plastic trash” along the coastline.

She said: “It’s sad to see, but it can also be interesting in its own way because you can find things like fishing floats, or octopus traps, or consumer items in different languages that have washed into Bermuda from across the world.”

She added: “They tell their own stories”.

Items that often lie closer to the shore are relics of pottery, glass bottles and other historical artefacts.

“You just never know what you are going to find,” she added.

“My boyfriend has found bullets, military buttons and old coins.”

Ms Sapsford does most of her treks at Cooper’s Island.

She said: “It’s my favourite place to go to because it’s a nature reserve and the beach is not cleaned.

“That’s really important because it is undisturbed and there is a really good wind direction there as well.”

She recalled encountering a “magical” octopus last month on some rocks off the East End.

“I saw some discarded crab shells in this tide pool and I was curious if an octopus lived there,” she added.

“I looked under the rock and there it was, its eye and its little purple tentacle; I just couldn’t believe it,” she said, of the animal’s shifting colours.

While her conservation efforts are a hobby, Ms Sapsford said they help her to carry out her job at the Sargasso Sea Commission (SSC), where she has worked as a marine research fellow since 2021.

While her role at the commission is centred on policy and ocean stewardship, there is a fundamental basis as to why she likes her job.

She said: “I entered the job from a communications perspective, of wanting to tell people more about the ocean and get them engaged with the high-seas environment.”

Ms Sapsford is also attached to the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, where she has been working as a communications consultant for two years.

She attended the UN Ocean Conference in France in June 2025, where she shared messages about the SSC’s work.

“It was amazing to be a part of it; we were there to share lessons learnt by the SSC about high-seas ocean conservation,” she said.

Ms Sapsford attended Somersfield Academy and the Bermuda High School, followed by the University of Nottingham and University of Cambridge in England.

She is pursuing a doctorate in maritime affairs at the World Marine University — Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute in Sweden.

“The point of the PhD is to impart these lessons from conserving high-seas areas, so that other important high-seas sites can be conserved too,” she said.