Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Project

In this section

Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Handbook

Working with communities and groups, we have developed Scotland’s first “how to” guide for community-led marine biodiversity survey and monitoring.
Community-led Marine Training

Explore different training opportunities to develop your survey skills. Use the Virtual Training Tool to practice your survey skills or watch training videos on different topics.
Community Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Equipment Fund

With support from the William Grant Foundation we have opened a fund for communities and groups to purchase equipment and get involved in community-led marine survey and monitoring.
Community-led Marine Survey Data

Community-led survey and monitoring reveals lots of special marine life under the sea and on our coasts.

Scotland’s coastlines and waters are a special place for marine habitats and wildlife. The Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Project encourages everyone to get involved in the survey and monitoring of marine life in their local waters.

Through this project we are working directly to increase participation in marine biodiversity surveying in Scotland. This includes working to improve survey skills and increase the knowledge base within communities, providing access to suitable equipment, and supporting community-led survey planning, fieldwork and data management.

Key project focus:

Connect more people with Scotland’s seas.
Enable participation in marine biodiversity survey within Scotland by providing project resources, training, access to equipment and knowledge exchange events.
Develop a data journey into national marine databases to support decision making for Scotland’s inshore coasts and waters.
Nationally, improve our knowledge of marine species and habitat distribution around Scotland.

The project aims to support the delivery of the Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) Monitoring Strategy .