A YOUNG eco-warrior from Bolton is to speak at a national conference on the future of sea creatures.

Eleven-year-old Amber Rowland will represent Blackpool Sea Life Centre at Britain's first National Junior Sea Life Conference.

Amber answered an appeal to find a delegate by writing a letter about her passion for turtles and the dangers they face.

She has been chosen to work with Sea Life marine expert Mike Bell to put a presentation together for the conference, which will be held in Birmingham in July.

Amber said: "I wrote about the turtles, why they are in danger, why I'm concerned and what can be done to help.

"I'll be giving a presentation at the conference and talking about the turtles.

"Poachers get their eggs and kill them for their shells and meat and a lot get caught in fishing nets and drown."

She said she would be calling for greater use of turtle excluder devices, which can be placed in trawl nets to allow the animals to escape.

Amber, of Limefield Close, Smithills, has visited the Sea Life Centre to meet Mr Bell and makes plans for the conference.

On the trip Amber, a pupil at St Peter's Smithills Dean CE Primary School, became the first official signatory of a new Sea Life network conservation petition.

It aims to stem the depletion of a range of species because of intensive fishing operations and will be presented to the United Nations Committee on Fisheries.

The conference will give young people the opportunity to talk about this and other marine life issues.

Mr Bell said: "It's a chance for the younger generation to air their concerns about our fragile marine environment and maybe have an influence on the kind of marine world their own children will be able to enjoy in the future."

Amber will join nine other young delegates from across the UK for the event at Birmingham's Hilton Hotel on July 15 and 16.

She said: "I'm excitied to be doing it and really happy to have been chosen.

"I'm a little bit nervous but I'm looking foward to it."

The Junior Sea Life Conference is part of the Sea Life network's Save Our Seas programme and if successful could become an annual event.