Primary tabs

monitoring
Monitoring

Marine Scotland Science (MSS) undertakes a wide range of monitoring covering many aspects of the Scottish marine ecosystem.

Monitoring is undertaken in Scottish Inshore Waters, using networks of volunteers and automatic recording equipment, as well as in Scottish Offshore Waters, using the MSS research vessels MRV Alba na Mara and MRV Scotia.

Marine Scotland Science also participates national monitoring programmes, such as:

  • UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy (UKMMAS)
  • UK Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN)
  • UK Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN)

This group provides published data from monitoring these activities. For many activities, there are national or international standards for how the monitoring is undertaken.

Data Extent

License

UK Open Government Licence (OGL)

Other Access

The information on this page (the dataset metadata) is also available in these formats.

JSON RDF

via the DKAN API

Social

Observations of plastic pollution on the west coast of Scotland

Beach clean data collected from 27 locations on the west coast of Scotland. In total there were 49 surveys.

doi: 
https://doi.org/10.7489/12468-1
Citation: 
Allison, N.L., Dale, A.C., Turrell, W.R. and B.E. Narayanaswamya. 2023. Observations of plastic pollution on the west coast of Scotland. doi: 10.7489/12468-1

Data and Resources

beach litter abundance
FieldValue
Publisher
Monitoring
Modified
2023-08-16
Release Date
2023-08-16
Identifier
fa42d730-fdcd-4dbe-9a84-7b197b1c16ad
Spatial / Geographical Coverage Area
POLYGON ((-7.1275319159031 55.214401819538, -7.1275319159031 57.433781826317, -4.5640562474728 57.433781826317, -4.5640562474728 55.214401819538))
Temporal Coverage
2022-07-23 to 2023-03-23
Language
English (United Kingdom)
License
UK Open Government Licence (OGL)
Data Dictionary

Samples were collected following the protocol of OSPAR and Marine Conservation Society in which a 100 m horizontal transect (minimum 10 m) was surveyed for beach litter.
Items removed from all surveys were cleaned, dried and counted and items from 43 surveys were also weighed, and all values recorded within the database. Items that were not removed from the beach were counted separately but not weighed.
Contact Name
Scottish Government, Marine Directorate
Contact Email
marinescotland@gov.scot
Public Access Level
Public